


Red Hair

by when_you_know_you_know



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:48:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 23,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26910907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/when_you_know_you_know/pseuds/when_you_know_you_know
Summary: Now a multi-award winning recording artist, Beca Mitchell has it all. Except the one girl she so desperately, secretly pines for. Chloe Beale is finally journeying through her dream at Vet School, but she is far from the woman she was back at Barden..
Relationships: Chloe Beale & Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

Beca’s eyes squeezed shut, thinking of her favourite pair of bright blue eyes as she felt a tongue slurp from her opening up to her clit. As she ground her hips, trying to assist with a hopeful orgasm, her hands found their way down to a mass of wavy long red hair and she scrambled her fingers within the locks.

Chloe’s smile. Chloe’s lips. Chloe’s laugh. Chloe’s butt. Beca could picture it all behind her closed eyelids and it caused a smile to sweep across her face, her breathing increasing as she finally felt the faintest hint of an impending orgasm. Chloe’s strong arms. Chloe’s wink. Chloe’s voice-

“How’m I doing?” came the panted question from the figure laying between her legs and Beca’s eyes flung open.

“Uh, yeah.” Beca blurted, looking down the length of her body while her stomach twisted with guilt, “Yeah good. Great.”

A pair of dark brown eyes met hers, and a small dimple grin of relief. Beca always lied. No matter how many times she brought a red haired fan back to her hotel after a show, night after night. It was the same every time - a casual check of their ID, a drink from the hotel suite mini bar, sudden make out, lights out, sex.

Two years since the USO tour. Two years since she had last lived with Chloe. Beca missed her best friend bitterly. Thought about her all day every day. Wished miserably that she’d told Chloe years ago about how she’d felt about her. Instead she now had to endure the sight of Chloe’s bright beaming smile emanating from her phone screen each time she checked her Instagram. Beca wished it was _her_ making Chloe smile like that. Beca hated that it was some handsome dude from Chloe’s Vet School instead.

To fill the void and her unhappiness, Beca slept around - living up to the ‘girl in every port’ reputation that being on tour while having a multi award winning music career brought. A secret reputation but one nonetheless. Each girl fit the description for what Beca was attracted to: red hair. Anything to help her imagine that it was her unrequited love between her legs each night instead.

Each girl was the same - red hair and eager to impress. Beca had become addicted to the chase. Chasing the girl of her dreams without any real chance of ever catching her. No chance because Chloe was happy with her life on the West side of America. At least, that was what her instagram account seemed to suggest.

Beca let out a sigh of frustration that she masked as one of content while the girl between her legs (Cora? Corey? Casey??) brought her face back down to service her pussy, lapping eagerly. Beca’s grip tightened ever so slightly within the red hair, and her eyes fluttered closed once more. Images of Chloe returned to the forefront of her mind and the brunette imagined that it was her estranged best friend who was naked in her hotel bed with her right now. Her estranged best friend who she had just gone down on and had quickly brought to orgasm.

“Who’s Chloe?”

Beca froze, her eyes flinging open once more as she held her breath. The images of Chloe whisped away as the words rang in her ears in the unfamiliar voice.

“Huh?” she checked, wondering if the whiskey in her system had driven her to hear things now.

“Chloe. You just moaned her name.” the girl said seriously, a tinge of confusion in her tone. Crap. How was she going to explain this one? She couldn’t exactly tell the truth.

“Is your name not Chloe?” Beca tried feebly, already wincing and feeling grateful that the lights in her hotel suite were out. She felt a shift in body weight between her legs that had become all too familiar in recent weeks.

“No, my name’s Carrie.” the girl replied in an irritated voice and Beca found herself releasing the girl’s hair to bring her palms to her own face. As she rubbed her cheeks then her eyes she let out a tired sigh. She knew what was about to happen..

“Sorry.” she mumbled, her hands now crossing behind her head to prop it up while she looked back down at the girl. God she looked nothing like Chloe. Even her hair - being perfectly straightened and now looking a little ruffled thanks to Beca’s hands moments ago - was nothing like Chloe’s except for the shade of red. No way would Chloe’s beautiful hair ever look that well maintained. It was one of the many many things Beca loved about her estranged best friend - how beautiful she looked even at her most slobbiest.

“God you’re a fucking dick.” the girl muttered, rising to her knees and shifting off the massive hotel bed. Beca sat up, watching as Carrie fumbled around the room to find her clothes to redress herself.

“Dude, don’t…” Beca began, but made no attempt to get out of bed and comfort the girl. She never did. No matter how many times they would storm out, either mid-sex or post-sex. The bubble of how wonderful ‘Beca Mitchell’ was, soon burst once back in the famous recording artist’s plush hotel suite.

“What’s my name?” the girl challenged, having stopped slipping part of her panties up her left leg to give Beca a slight glimmer of a chance for things to resume. But Beca grimaced. She couldn’t remember. And even if she could, she wouldn’t want things to resume anyway. Sure, the girl was hot, but nobody ever compared to Chloe.

The brunette’s pause was long enough for the redhead to scoff in outrage, tugging the rest of her underwear on, and stuffing her dress over her body.

“You need to get a fucking check on yourself.” the girl barked angrily, shoving her sandals back on before grabbing her phone and jacket, “Whoever the fuck Chloe is, I hope you find her and tell her that you think about her whenever you’re fucking someone else!” and with that, Carrie stormed out of the hotel suite, slamming the door closed behind her.

The silence was deafening but Beca was used to it. She’d been lonely ever since she’d signed onto this recording contract. She reached over for her phone that remained dutifully by her side day in day out, and called a speed dial number.

“Theo? Yeah, it’s…it happened again.” she paused, pinching the bridge of her nose while the member of her entourage sighed and pulled himself out of his own hotel bed to try to find the girl Beca had just angered. Her PR team were always quick to speak to the girls that stormed out who had the potential to ruin her status by going to the press. “Thanks. Sorry.”

After ending the call Beca fell backwards onto her bed with a heavy sigh. That girl probably hadn’t realised how close to the truth she was when giving Beca an aggressive piece of advice. She didn’t mean to be so heartless. Being famous meant people practically threw themselves at her, and often she didn’t really know what else to do but to oblige. It was never anything serious. She always ensured she pleasured whoever had come back with her first, before receiving in turn. Sometimes they were experienced. Sometimes they weren’t. But at the end of the day she always ended up alone.

The brunette’s fingertips swished across her bare nipples while she stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Haunted by what could’ve been. Haunted by the memory of her one true love. _Chloe_.


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe slipped her denim jacket on and let out a tired sigh, peering over at her bed and the figure laying fast asleep in it. Her stomach still scrambled with guilt. It always did each morning she woke like this. Each morning she got ready for class like this. Every morning that the person laying in her bed wasn’t the one person she wished it was The one person she missed desperately since leaving Brooklyn two years ago to start vet school.

She cleared her throat, knowing how to make enough noise to begin stirring strangers awake. And sure enough she noticed the change in the woman’s breathing, a sign she’d begun to wake. So Chloe slowly pattered round to the bed and raised her foot to nudge the mattress with her toes.

The young woman laying in her bed slowly opened her eyes, rubbing them with her fingertips before looking directly at Chloe with a sleepy smile. But Chloe didn’t smile. She never did the morning after the night before.

“Hey um,” Chloe began awkwardly, because it _was_ awkward the way she ended these one night stands, “I’ve got class so…” and she motioned to her bedroom door. The girl sat up, bringing the bedcovers with her to hide her naked body, and glanced at the door a little surprised.

“Oh. Right.” the girl’s dark brown eyes looked back at Chloe and it’s in the fresh light of day with no alcohol in her system that Chloe realised just how _not_ like Beca the girl was, “You want me to go?”

God it was awkward. She never used to be this harsh. But then, living with Beca for so many years had taught Chloe to take better control of her life and decisions. Back in Brooklyn, hell even back at Barden, Beca had never shied away from saying ‘no’ if she hadn’t wanted to do something.

Had Chloe never met Beca she probably would’ve been kinder to this girl. Had probably offered her breakfast. Perhaps had even suggested the girl just take her time leaving and make sure she shut the door to her apartment firmly behind her so it locked. That maybe they could have another night together sometime if that was what the girl really wanted.

Had Chloe not met Beca there was no way she’d be here. She wouldn’t have made it to vet school or perhaps might not have even decided to become a vet (Beca had always been surprisingly enthusiastic about her ambition to become a vet). And she definitely wouldn’t have been one for ‘one night stands’ at thirty years old.

But Chloe _had_ met Beca. And that’s why she remains so conflicted and complicated and regularly sharp. No longer the nicey-nicey pushover Chloe Beale she was at Barden.

“Yeeeeah.” she said awkwardly, her arms folded across her stomach as she stood before the bed. Fortunately the girl said nothing more and as she slipped out of Chloe’s bed to find her clothes, the redhead busied herself by staring out of her bedroom window. Her classmate was due to arrive any minute now to drive her over to campus. This girl had to hurry.

“Last night was fun.” came the unfamiliar voice, sounding somewhat optimistic, “We should do it again sometime.”

“I don’t think so.” Chloe replied, with no hint of hesitation to her tone, and it clearly caught the girl off guard.

“Oh.”

Chloe turned to face the girl who had already pulled her underwear back on and was mid-way through pulling her pants up her thighs. Chloe winced internally for a moment. God she was _nothing_ like Beca. What the hell was going on?? Why had Chloe picked her?!

“My profile specifically said ‘one night stand’,” Chloe explained bluntly, “so…”

“I just thought…” the girl paused, pulling her top over her head, “…because…” and then she paused once more, finishing getting dressed before looking over in confusion at the redhead stood nearby, “…I thought we had a connection and-”

“-I don’t want to.” Chloe interrupted, not wanting to seem mean but beginning to feel uncomfortable about the situation. The girls she brought back never usually made assumptions. That was the beauty of having a brutally honest online ‘dating’ profile. No questions if people know there’s ‘no strings’.

“Right.” the brunette said in a hurt tone, furrowing her brow as she glanced around for her purse, “Wow that…” she found the purse and grabbed it, slinging it over her shoulder, “I didn’t put you down as someone who’d be so brutally honest.”

Chloe fought back her temptation to roll her eyes. People so often assumed they knew her with the simplest or shortest of interactions. But they didn’t. They couldn’t possibly. Chloe barely knew herself anymore. She was trying, but it was hard to focus with school and exams and _Beca_ (still rolling around in her head eight years on).

“Yeah I never used to be but,” Chloe began to explain, grabbing her satchel and slipping it over her shoulder before heading for the apartment door, “I just learnt to say no if I wanted to.”

The girl followed Chloe, her eyebrows rising, clearly impressed. Her hair was a mess and her clothes definitely looked as though she’d worn them last night. But she didn’t seem to mind and had Chloe been much like she‘d been back in Barden, she would’ve thought to ask the girl if she wanted to look in the mirror or borrow a hair brush. Chloe, however, was too busy checking the time.

“How refreshing.” the brunette muttered, watching as Chloe grabbed the handle and opened the door wide, revealing the apartment block hallway, “Well good luck with everything.”

Chloe had long stopped feeling a twist of guilt when parting ways with a one night stand. She certainly felt sad though. Not because she was saying goodbye to them, but because she mourned the way she’d once been back in Barden. She used to be so nice.

“Yeah and you.”

“Oh!” came a clipped gasp, and Chloe watched as her classmate walked straight into the girl Chloe had spent the night with, “Hel-lo…”

Chloe watched with a small smirk as her friend frowned at the girl who simply marched away towards the elevators, and the boy muttered, “ _Rude_.” before stepping into the apartment as though Chloe had held the door open for him.

“Is that what I think it was?” he asked, pointing at the doorway as Chloe closed the door to look for her toothbrush.

“Depends what you think it was.”

“Was that your _sixth_ one night stand in a row??” the young man checked rhetorically, perching on the end of Chloe’s bed and grimacing as he flinched away from a pair of discarded panties by his foot.

“I’ve not been keeping count, Darnell.” Chloe replied in a distracted tone, looking in her small en-suite for some new toothpaste, her toothbrush already in hand.

“Guuurl you are something else you know that?” Darnell exclaimed, disbelief etched in his tone, but he grinned all the same as he crossed his legs and leant back on one hand, “Clearly you are either hung up on some _thing_ or some _one_ , and I’m going with the latter.”

Chloe stepped out of her en-suite, her heart racing a little. Shit, was she really that obvious? She looked over at her friend while she shoved her toothbrush and toothpaste in her satchel, ready to clean her teeth after lunch today.

“You have literally no evidence.”

“Mmhmm?” Darnell replied with a grin still splashed over his face, and he paused for dramatic effect. Chloe remained stood in the same spot, raising her eyebrows to look as innocent as possible which caused the young man to chuckle, “Okay so each one night stand has been a girl, has been petite, and a brunette…” he finished counting the features on one hand, then pointed his index finger at her, clearly concluding, “…you have a type.”

Chloe let out a tut, definitely rolling her eyes this time and she began slowly heading for her apartment door, knowing her friend would follow, “I don’t have a type.” she insisted.

“Then you’re filling a void.” Darnell suggested in a final tone, pulling his rucksack strap higher into his shoulder as he stepped past her into the hallway.

“I’m not fil-“ Chloe paused abruptly to let out a short sharp sigh of frustration, “look, can you drop it?”

“Ima just looking out for you.” Darnell replied honestly, looking at Chloe’s seriously, watching while the redhead closed her apartment door firmly. But Chloe avoided his eye contact and instead began heading for the stairwell. Darnell scampered after her, track having never been his thing in high school, and by the time he reached her, he was already a little out of breath.

“Who’s the girl you’re pining after?” he probed while they scurried down the stairs. Chloe remained silent, gripping a little tighter to the strap of her satchel. She tried her hardest not to think of Beca. _Her hardest_. But like every single day, during quiet moments alone or if a particular song was on the radio or if her eyes caught sight of the small tattoo she knew Beca had twinned with hers on their wrists…Chloe thought of Beca.

Not just a tiny thought. Like her whole body became consumed. Memories of her perfume, the sound of her laugh (on the occasions she really _really_ laughed), the sight of her fingers dancing across her mixing kit on the tiny kitchen table or the fold-out bed - Chloe remembered every last detail which only served to make her miss the woman even more.

“Is it a Bella?” Darnell continued. Chloe continued to ignore.

“Is it…Beca?” the young man attempted, his smile broadening to a grin when he caught sight of the redhead’s hesitant expression. He knew he was right.

“Cos you talk about your old collegiate a Capella group all the time and about every single girl except Beca Mitchell,” Chloe squeezed her eyes closed briefly. Even the sound of her name set her heart racing with nerves or excitement or whatever caused her palms to become sweaty. Annoyingly, once Darnell was on a roll, he spoke at a million miles a minute, “who, you know, is the only one anyone would ever know because she is a multi-award winning, multi-million dollar recording artist and-”

“ _Fine_ ,” Chloe conceded, stopping suddenly for a matter of three seconds to turn and face her friend and admitting simply, bluntly, “it’s her.” before resuming her fast pace down the stairs.

“I knew it.” Darnell replied with a massive grin, clearly thrilled to have solved the riddle and (more impressively) have knocked down one of Chloe’s walls to actually get the woman to _admit_ he was right, “You know how I know?” he asked, pausing in case Chloe wanted to reply, but after a moment he realised she didn’t, so answered, “Because I’m your very best friend. I know _everything_ about you.”

The two vet students reached the bottom of the stairwell and stride out into the lobby of the apartment block Chloe lived in. Darnell using the words ‘best friend’ still threw Chloe off-guard sometimes. Chloe had exclusively used it to describe Beca from around 2013 through to 2017. Four years of Beca being her best friend (and secretly her unrequited crush). Chloe found it weird and often sad that she could no longer give Beca that title.

Chloe slipped into the passenger seat of Darnell’s car with a tired sigh, and pulled her seatbelt on while her friend got into the drivers seat. She stared out of the window, imagining what it might be like if Beca showed up out of the blue.

“So?”

Chloe slowly blinked a few times before noticing out of the corner of her eye her ‘best’ friend looking at her. She turned to see him grinning at her.

“What?”

“Sooooo, when are you gonna _tell_ her??” Darnell asked excitably, switching the ignition on and pulling the car away from the sidewalk. Chloe rolled her eyes and leant the side of her head on her hand, looking back out at the view while they drove to campus. She never used to be this quiet. But then, a lot of stuff felt like it had changed over the past couple of years.

“We don’t even talk anymore.” Chloe replied in a glum tone, biting the inside of her cheek to try to hold back a temptation to cry. “She’s probably forgotten I even exist.”


	3. Chapter 3

Beca dragged her fingers through her long brown hair, taking a deep intake of breath as she stepped off the private jet. She blinked several times, scrambling to find her sunglasses on top of her head and slip them over her eyes. Three performances in two days, one on the east coast, one on the south coast, and now on the west coast. She hadn’t really slept in three days. She wasn’t sure where she was. She didn’t even care. It was the same thing wherever she went. Same set. Same interactions on stage and off. She just went wherever the label booked her to go.

The recording artist slid into the back of the private car, the door of which was held open by her driver. She let out a heavy exhale as the movement of the vehicle driving away from the jet prompted Theo to start talking, sat beside her with a clipboard in his hand. The dude rarely stopped talking about work. It was annoying.

“You’re gonna have tomorrow off. So we fly tomorrow night, okay?” Theo paused when he heard no response from the woman beside him. They’d spoken about this hundreds of times before. Even though Beca wasn’t much of a talker - particularly when tired - he told her she needed to at least respond with a grunt to show him that she’d at least heard what he’d said. Sometimes Beca needed reminded that she’d agreed to do that. “Okaaay?” he repeated, and Beca simply let out an exhausted sigh, slumping down in her seat and pulling her sunglasses back down over her eyes.

“Whatever.” she grumbled, turning her body away from him to rest her head. She could never sleep on flights, but she could just about doze on car journeys.

Theo let out a frustrated sigh of his own, rolling his eyes and jotting something down on the paper that was on the clipboard. He then pulled his phone out and called a number, ready to continue the important business call he’d had to stop in order to get off the private jet.

———

Thirty minutes later and Beca hadn’t once comprehended where she was stepping out of the car and being bustled inside by security while a handful of fans screamed her name excitably. It was the same every day. Nothing felt new anymore. A stage was just a stage. Her songs were just her songs, written by other people for her. Her life was just her life. Dull. Uninspiring. She felt like a puppet, being moved around by her label as if she were just some _thing_ instead of some _one_.

Four hours after that and Beca was stuffed in a dressing room she could tell the venue had tried hard to make look as stylish as possible just for her. But Beca knew the difference. Wherever she was, it was a far cry from the stadiums she’d been playing.

She didn’t dwell over it though, and grimaced with each tiny bite of the burger she’d been bought, delivered quickly to her dressing room so she could line her stomach with _something_ before she drank during her set. Since moving to LA and living the ‘on tour’ lifestyle, Beca had taken to drinking more frequently. It helped numb the loneliness that she felt deep down. She also ate less. Eating less was the only remaining part of her life she could control.

“Two minutes, Beca.” Beca heard somewhere across the room, recognising the voice belonging to Theo. At least she didn’t have to pretend to keep eating. She let out a tired sigh, standing from the table she’d been sat at, and smoothed down the front of her shirt. She had people to make her look presentable. To ensure she’d always have her makeup done just right, her hair perfectly styled and her outfits fitting to perfection. She hadn’t looked at her reflection in a mirror for months.

Walking down an unknown corridor behind a posse of her entourage was always how Beca worked up to a performance. The screaming and cheering from the impending crowd was now like background noise. And when she took her microphone, Beca’s chest tightened as it always did before a show. Sure, this was what she did practically every night, but it still didn’t help ease her nerves.

Beca chewed on her bottom lip as she approached side of stage. The sooner she got to that glass of whiskey on stage the better..

“Just one more night.” she heard Theo attempt to assure in her ear, but she was far from assured. One night left before a day off at last, yeah. But then the nightly performances would resume again.

Beca forced a fixed smile onto her face, took one more deep breath, then stepped out onto the stage to a huge eruption of screaming and cheering and clapping. The usual reaction. The musician stepped on her marker, glancing around at the faces she could just about see beyond the spotlight shining on her.

“How’s everybody doing tonight?” she asked into the mic, the burst of excitable cries being answer enough for her. “Awesome.”

Beca leant down, grabbing the glass of whiskey to take a large gulp of. Swiping her tongue across her lips, she looked back out again whilst swallowing her mouthful. And all of a sudden her heart skipped a beat.

Three rows back, to her right, amongst the crowd, the superstar clasped eyes on the one person she’d never ever expected to see. The one person she’d thought about every night and every day for years. The one person who had haunted her dreams.

“ _Chloe”_

Beca froze as the crowd slowly quietened, and her mouth went dry. Shit. Had she just said Chloe’s name out loud? Was she really seeing her right now? In person?

She watched in stunned silence as Chloe brought a hand up and waved nervously. The redhead didn’t appear to be smiling much. But there was the tiniest hint of a smile in the corner of her mouth. Beca blinked a couple of times to make sure she wasn’t imagining things, and when she knew she wasn’t, she cleared her throat loudly.

“Sorry guys I um…” she paused, crouching down to place her glass on the stage again before standing upright, a forced smile still on her face, though it had eased to a more genuine smile the more she came to terms with the reality that she was now performing for _Chloe_. “..I’ve just seen an old friend in the crowd.” the crowd cheered, and Beca looked down at her feet a little embarrassed, “I’ve really missed her.”

She spun on the spot, looking off-stage to Theo who was holding his clipboard with a surprised smile on his face.

“Can you invite her backstage please?” she asked, her mic held down to her side so the crowd couldn’t hear, for fear that they’d bundle the redhead.

Her heart raced with nerves and excitement as Theo gave her a thumbs up and she let out a heavy exhale to try to compose herself. But as she looked out at the crowd again, specifically in Chloe’s direction, her stomach sank.

Chloe had disappeared.


	4. Chapter 4

Chloe wouldn’t exactly say her walk nowadays was a strut. But she definitely walked through campus with her head held high. Being a student in her thirties was a whole heap different to being a student in her twenties.

In her twenties she was confident in a ‘bubbly, bursting into song in public, crashing into people’s personal space with no invite and forcing them to like her thanks to her dazzling smile and bright blue eyes’ kind of way. Now in her thirties, her confidence was a completely different ballpark. She was still dazzling people with her smile and bright blue eyes, that was for sure. But her bubbly nature was now toned-down to an open optimism that people were drawn to. People’s personal spaces were no longer driven into by Chloe Beale. Now _they_ came to _her_ thanks to even the _tiniest_ of compliments that fell from her mouth. She was like a siren to many - young students in their early twenties besotted by her maturity and natural beauty. And this kind of attention only added to Chloe’s confidence.

Now, at 7pm on a Monday night, the redhead was filled to the brim with confidence, looking hot in a tight black dress, her cleavage teasing over the top. She was keeping an eye out for ‘one night stand number seven’. But perhaps she needed to drink more than the couple of homemade cocktails Darnell had offered her (and she’d enthusiastically consumed) an hour ago.

“I’ll meet you outside afterwards, Darnell?” said a young man, striding past Chloe and her college pal as they entered the music venue on campus. Chloe furrowed her brow as her friend agreed with a loud chuckle.

“What’re _you_ doing after the show??” she asked, swiping the man’s arm to gain his attention. Seeing new artists perform was their thing. It was the thing they had most in common. And usually they went out partying afterwards. Evidently Darnell had already made plans..

The young man chuckled again, nudging her with his elbow, “I’m walking home with Tom because _someone_ is out to pull her seventh one night stand in a row.” 

His teasing tone matched the movement of his eyes that snapped down to her chest accusingly, a broad grin on his face. A loud cackle leapt out of Chloe’s mouth, swiping his arm again while she ignored the obvious attention she was getting from young men and young women alike, as they sauntered through the busy music venue towards the performance area.

“Believe me, Tom is aaaaall yours!” she replied in an amused tone, delighting in the brief bashful expression Darnell had on his face while he picked his way around other Davis students. It was no secret that Tom Green was far from Chloe’s ‘type’. And it was no secret that Darnell had a huge crush on their fellow Vet student.

He always whistfully spoke to Chloe about how perfect it was that his surname was Grey and Tom’s surname was Green and that as they both had colours for surnames they were destined to be together. That right there had been something ‘twenty-something Chloe’ would’ve found magical and perfect and would’ve encouraged whole-heartedly. But it was exactly what had thirty year old Chloe scrunching her nose up and feeling a bit sick.

Love didn’t happen like that. People weren’t ‘meant to be’ just because one had something that complimented the other and vice versa. She used to think that when she’d been in her twenties and she realised _she_ had a bug tattoo and _Beca_ had a bug tattoo and that they were just _destined_ to be together. Love didn’t work that way. Life didn’t work that way..

“Oop, there’s a short brunette there.” Darnell teased, slinging an arm around Chloe’s shoulders to pull her to a halt and pointed very obviously at a girl who looked admittedly a lot like the girl Chloe’d had a one night stand with the night before. Chloe dug her elbow into his ribs with a tut, and a smirk, nodding at the girl (who checked her out with a surprised smile), then walked away towards the stage. To ‘their spot’ that they always stood at during music performances.

“So are you gonna tell me who we’re seeing here?” she asked Darnell once he arrived by her side.

“Nope!” he teased with a grin, and Chloe let out a joking growl of frustration.

“Come onnn!” she urged, jabbing his side so he flinched away with a laugh, “I’ll walk home with you tonight if you do? No one night stand with a random girl.”

She held her hand out for him to shake as a deal but Darnell slapped it away.

“No way. I’m having a romantic walk home with Tom thank you very much.”

Chloe let out a heavy sigh, rolling her eyes while she looked at the empty stage. It was already a busy venue. Whoever they were about to see was obviously very popular.

“Well are you going to buy the drinks then?” Chloe conceded, and she saw him roll his eyes.

“I bet there’s plenty of people by the bar who would trip over themselves to buy you drinks, Chloe.” he replied in an amused voice, spinning the redhead around to face the bar. Chloe chuckled. Because he was absolutely right, they probably would. Both of them were pretty penniless, using Chloe’s charm and good looks to buy them drinks after drinks while out in the evening.

“I’ll be right back.” she announced in defeat, a broad smile on her face.

And so Chloe wormed her way from her friend and ‘their spot’, heading for the bar at the back of the cavernous performance room. Working her way to the front of the queue that gathered chaotically, all waiting to be served. Their eyes were all on the busy bar tenders, waiting to catch their eye. But Chloe’s attention was on a girl to her left. A short brunette with a button nose and deep brown eyes. She looked a far cry from Beca, but Chloe thought it wouldn’t hurt to test the waters, see if this girl would be interested in her.

“I like your necklace.” Chloe spoke into her ear, smiling kindly when she leant back to see the girl looking at her in awe, eyes wide as the brunette glanced briefly down at her cleavage.

“Wow um…thanks.”

Chloe put her down as twenty one. Maybe even twenty two. They were always young, the ones she picked up on campus. Her next move was to look back at the bar tenders and wait. Just wait for the inevitable follow-up from whoever she was ‘hitting on’.

But just as the young woman opened her mouth to add something more, Chloe saw one of the bar tender’s stride over and place two beautiful looking cocktails in tall glasses down on the bar before Chloe. The redhead’s mouth dropped, looking from them, up to the man behind the bar. He was smiling at her.

“Chloe?” he asked, and Chloe just nodded slowly in disbelief, “These are on the house. Boss’s orders.”

Chloe looked at the people around her. ‘Boss’s orders’? What did that even mean? _Who_ did that even mean?

“Wow! You’ve excelled yourself this time, Red!” Darnell burst, an impressed smile on his face as he received the cocktail that Chloe held out to him. But Chloe didn’t smile. She was still confused. Who had instructed the bar tenders to give her free drinks??

Suddenly the lights in the venue went down and a spotlight lit a section centre-stage. A lone glass of alcohol stood in the middle. And Chloe turned to look just as the place erupted with screams and clapping and cheering.

Her heart leapt into her throat, her mouth hung open in shock as she watched a familiar figure wander onto the stage, mic in hand. _Beca_.

But…not the Beca she remembered. This Beca was skinny. Not slim. _Skinny_. She had heaps more makeup on than Chloe ever recalled the woman wearing in the past. And while Beca’s clothes fitted her tiny body perfectly and her long brown hair was styled to perfection and a broad smile was on her face, Chloe knew instantly that Beca was miserable. Exhausted. Forced happiness to please fans that Chloe knew Beca wouldn’t really care about.

“How’s everybody doing tonight?” she heard Beca ask while the brunette looked at the responding crowd with a smile, “Awesome.”

Chloe watched, stunned, as her estranged best friend stooped down to pick up a glass of what she suspected was whiskey, and she felt sick at the way Beca took a massive gulp of the alcohol. The superstar seemed nonplussed at the ‘burn’ that usually came with it. And it had Chloe suspecting that this might be Beca’s vice..

“Chloe”

Chloe heard her name echo around her via the speakers, and her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were locked with Beca’s while the brunette froze, evidently stunned to see Chloe as much as Chloe was to see Beca. Then it occurred to the redhead that out of all these people in this thickly crowded venue, Beca had _seen_ her. Had recognised her almost instantaneously.

And that realisation brought a tiny smile to the corner of Chloe’s mouth as she slowly raised her hand and gave Beca a tiny wave. A tiny wave that seemed to draw Beca’s own smile from a forced one to a calmer relaxed one..


	5. Chapter 5

The lights went down and Beca could hardly compose her nerves as she dashed off stage, ignoring the cries for _another_ encore from her adoring fans. Nothing else mattered now. Her music. Her fans. Her entourage (who all met her expectantly side-of-stage). The drink one of her PA’s held out for her - the one she always had the second she came off stage after a performance to numb her anxiety. _Nothing_ mattered. Only Chloe.

 _Chloe_. Was she still here? That performance had been the longest performance of Beca’s life. The longest _hour_ of her life. She’d kept checking the crowd for the redhead. Had kept checking the side of stage for her. But since that brief glimpse of her at the start of her performance, Beca hadn’t seen Chloe since. The brunette was panicking.

“Chloe.” she blurted, shoving past her entourage to join Theo, looking up at him seriously, “Where is she? Is she here??”

She felt frustration bubbling as Theo simply looked at her with a kind smile. That _stupid_ stupid kind smile that was now a rare event but one that Beca didn’t enjoy. Why didn’t he just answer her directly?? Yes or no. It really wasn’t difficult.

“She’ll be in your dressing room.” he finally replied. The sound of chanting from Beca’s fans nearby slowly petered out, and the crowd could be heard slowly exiting the venue. Beca exhaled heavily, trying to expel her strong emotions in an attempt to compose herself. Chloe was here. Chloe was _waiting_ for her.

The walk down to her dressing room felt like a lifetime and with each step she took Beca felt her insides squirming, her palms sweating, her heart palpitating. Anxiety hit Beca fairly often. It’d been that way since a child. But the meds that the label had got her on had helped matters, and she often found that having a strong drink eliminated any horrible thoughts she had about herself.

Because Beca hated herself. Every single day. Hated her life and her career. Hated the sound of her voice. Hated the monotonous grind of performance after performance after _performance_. Hated the way she looked. Hated the way she _felt_.

The longer she went without talking to her family the harder it felt to contact them. So she didn’t. The longer she went without talking to her friends, the harder it felt to contact them. So she didn’t.

So as she slowly approached the closed door of her dressing room, she felt a lump in her throat. Tears built in her eyes as her nose tingled. Chloe was going to hate her. Chloe probably already _did_ hate her. And if she didn’t then it would probably take little more than a couple of minutes for Beca to completely blow it. Then she’d be left alone again. Alone like she had been from the second she’d moved away from New York two years ago. Alone like she was destined to be.

She stopped outside the door, her breathing having increased at some point, and before she reached for her dressing room door, she turned to look at Theo who had escorted her down to the room. He gave her a small nod of encouragement, a kind smile still on his face, and with that Beca turned back to the door, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.

The deep breath that she’d taken in seemed to disappear, taken away by the sight before her. There she was. Chloe Beale. _Chloe Beale_. Stood in the middle of the room in a killer black dress, her hair long and flowing in loose waves, and her hands clasped behind her back (a position Beca always remembered Chloe making whenever she was nervous). Tears noticeably shining in Chloe’s bright blue eyes. The woman of her dreams. The woman Beca feared she’d never see again…was _here_!

All of a sudden, as she heard the door behind her slowly swing closed, it all became too much for Beca’s exhausted body. She let out a sob while she stood before Chloe, her arms by her sides, with little left in her to remain strong. And as Chloe let out a sob of her own, the brunette collapsed to her knees, and burst into tears.

“ _I’m so sorry!_ ” Beca mumbled into her palms as her hands covered her face, ashamed of the woman she’d become. Ashamed of the woman Chloe was being presented. And she drew a ragged intake of breath as she felt Chloe tumble to her knees before her, the redhead’s arms immediately swooping around her upper body…


	6. Chapter 6

“Did you know??” Chloe burst accusingly, snapping around to face her friend who she’d just stormed away from. Darnell looked at her calmly, used to the redhead’s irrational behaviour from time to time (particularly while drinking).

“Stop acting like you’re upset about her being here.” he replied in an amused tone, his arms crossed while he dug the toes of his right shoe into the venue floor.

Chloe _wasn’t_ upset. She didn’t think she was. She was just…caught off guard. Having her crush appear out of the blue. And what was more, _Beca_ having no idea she’d be here either. That was just something she struggled to get her head around.

From the other side of the venue, Chloe could hear Beca begin to sing, and her heart soared at the sound. Beca’s voice had always made Chloe’s _heart_ sing.

“I’m not upset.” she said with a heavy sigh, “I’m just confused.”

Confusion. It hadn’t happened for Chloe in a long while. For once in her life things had kinda started to make sense. She was training to become a vet. She was comfortable with how she looked…

“I just…” she paused to let out a sharp exhale, “Of all the venues in the world, Beca’s label chose _here_?? _My_ college of all places-”

“Remember what your therapist suggested?”

Darnell’s voice suddenly broke through Chloe’s train of thought and the redhead rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. _Her therapist_. Okay so maybe she didn’t have everything figured out and having a therapist seemed to help her unravel certain aspects of her past that she regretted. Namely Beca. Though Chloe had never used her name in therapy - she simply referred to Beca as her ‘one’…which of course she was told off for doing.

Apparently it was part of a process of ‘letting go’ to not refer to her unrequited love of yesteryear as ‘the one’. Though it could easily describe what Beca was to Chloe. Beca _was_ ‘the one’. The one that got away. The one that eased Chloe’s anxiety and often raised her anxiety - somehow at the same time on occasion. Beca was the one that filled Chloe’s thoughts at any time day or night (or both!). She was the one - the _only_ one - who Chloe had a matching tattoo with. Which only made thoughts of Beca more recurring..

“Wait, _you_ set this up? All because of what my _therapist_ said??” Chloe tried not to growl when her friend presented himself proudly, hands on his hips in a superhero pose.

“Genius right?”

“Hmm.” Chloe grumbled, looking unimpressed while the opening song Beca had been singing came to an end. She couldn’t hear exactly what Beca was saying over the mic to the crowd, but judging by the reactions, she was complimenting the town or college or venue. So…Beca had planned this with Darnell? _How_??

“Look, she wanted to see you.” he attempted but Chloe’s eyebrows rose, unimpressed, and her arms folded.

“Her reaction hardly screamed that of a woman expecting to see me, Darnell.”

And just as the young man opened his mouth to make another suggestion, a different voice sounded from behind Chloe, along with footsteps that were quickly drowned out by the start of a new song from the performance area of the music venue.

“That’s because she had no idea this was Davis College.”

Chloe and Darnell turned to see Theo approaching them with a kind smile on his face. He looked as tired as Chloe remembered when she’d last seen him two years ago whisking Beca away for LA on a private jet. But despite his evident fatigue, the man looked _healthy_. And this made Chloe’s mood darken.

Two years ago, at the airport, when Chloe has given Beca one last hug and had watched with her breath caught in her lungs as the brunette slowly walked away, Theo had stepped up to her and had promised - _promised_ \- that he would take care of Beca. He’d given Chloe his word. But Chloe had just seen Beca with her own two eyes. And she was a far cry from the woman who had left her behind two years ago.

“Theo.” Chloe breathed out. The name had sounded far calmer coming from her mouth than it had done in her mind prior to speaking. But as Theo came to a stop before her, all her accusations and fury slipped to the back of her mind. “Beca-” she began, sounding a little more desperate than she would’ve liked.

“-needs you.” Theo interrupted, before letting out a heavy sigh. Two sets of questioning eyes on him, one set bright blue and ready to take all the information she could get. The other set a deep dark brown that Theo struggled to look away from. And he wasn’t sure why..

“Darnell here somehow managed to get in touch with the label and they passed his message to me.” Chloe saw Theo motion to her friend who was still looking very pleased with himself.

“Message?” Chloe asked with a frown, but she wasn’t in the dark for long.

“It seems as though you need her as much as she needs you.”

———

An attempt to return to ‘their spot’ had been futile following the conversation with Theo. It really was a top spot, so much of the crowd had naturally surged forward, filling the space Chloe and Darnell had left. Theo had instructed them to head for a door nearby which would lead them to Beca’s dressing room and, eventually, to Beca. Chloe decided it best to stand near said door and watch the rest of Beca’s performance.

Over the years in college, Chloe had marvelled at Beca’s ability to perform despite being a self-professed introvert. The way she held a note, a routine, her presence, and the attention of the audience had always been the reason why Chloe Beale had watched the brunette in awe and adoration. Beca was as much ‘music’ as music was ‘Beca’. And to Chloe, those two things slipped easily into one another. Beca’s photo would be in the dictionary under the definition for ‘music’ if Chloe had it her way.

And yet, seeing Beca as she was now, less enthusiastic and just… _done_ with music, broke Chloe’s heart into tiny pieces. Even if, to any other bystander watching the show, Beca Mitchell seemed _all in_ on the music she was singing, the performance she was providing, and the messages beyond it. Chloe knew Beca. At least, she hoped she still did. And if she did, then it was clear that Beca was _not_ enjoying performing anymore.

———

Walking down the corridor, being led by one of Beca’s entourage, was probably the longest walk Chloe had ever had to take. Her chest felt tight and she struggled to regulate her breathing. Her hands smoothed down the front of her black dress far too much.

Why did she feel as though she was about to run into an ‘ex’?

Well..she supposed that in a way Beca kinda _was_ an ‘ex’. Of sorts. An ex-unrequited lover (that one hurt). An ex-best friend (that one hurt even more). An ex-could’ve been (something she‘s working through in therapy - it’s difficult though, to imagine her life without thoughts of what could’ve been had she told Beca how she felt about her).

“If you’d just like to wait in here.” the entourage member instructed, Chloe following the direction of the pointed finger into a small room that had clearly been decorated with the intention of _trying_ to look classy. But at the end of the day it was just a stuffy room at the back of a rundown music venue in an old college. Nothing special. Not for the woman who is this year’s most successful recording artist.

“She’ll be with you any minute.”

And just like that, the door closed, and Chloe was left alone. She stood in the middle of the room, trying to take in the appearance of everything. First off, there was no mirror. Absolutely no mirror _anywhere_. So she couldn’t assess her appearance. Couldn’t work out if she looked presentable enough. Was that one of Beca’s requests?? That there be no mirror??

Her eyes found their way over to a nearby couch. A full bottle of whisky with a very expensive looking tumbler were set on a table beside the couch. A knot slowly tied in Chloe’s stomach as she reminded herself about Beca drinking on stage. Was she having to numb things? To try to forget things or ease feelings?

Chloe brought her hands behind her back, knitting her fingers together while she swayed nervously from left to right over and over. What was Beca going to say to her? Was she going to be mad that they’d not been in contact? Probably not. Not judging by Beca’s reaction to seeing her just over an hour ago, through the crowd. Was she going to be drunk? Perhaps…?

The redhead’s heart leapt into her throat as she heart the door to the dressing room open and her head snapped over to it to see Beca. _Finally_. Up close. For the first time in two years.

Beca looked more drained and exhausted than she had done on stage, and now she was closer, Chloe could see that Beca’s eyes were bloodshot. Tears built in Chloe’s own eyes when, the moment the door closed behind Beca, the brunette let out a sob. She looked almost… _relieved_ that Chloe was here!

And just like that, all of Chloe’s fears had flown out the window (or they would’ve done if there was a window in the crappy room, which there wasn’t). A sob slipped from her own mouth, sudden emotion rising through her body, and the redhead began striding forward towards Beca as the other woman burst into tears and sank to her knees on the floor.

Chloe hadn’t seen Beca cry much over the ten or so years that she’d known her. So when Beca did cry, she knew it was when the brunette was at breaking point. She collapsed to the floor, wrapping her arms instinctively around the woman’s body as it quivered, and she heard Beca distinctly say “ _I’m so sorry_ ” from within the palms of her hands.


	7. Chapter 7

Being held by Chloe was a mix of comfort and confusion and, if Beca was truly honest with herself, awful. Awful because it just solidified the hatred she felt towards herself. Chloe was so pure and kind. No way did Beca deserve her. She deserved no one. She was doomed to live a lonely life surrounded by adoring fans and a suck-up entourage, but never really being close enough to someone to trust.

“I-I…” Beca stuttered, finally bringing her hands from her face, sucking in deep breaths of air while tears still streamed down her face. Her eyes opened and immediately saw Chloe’s face: bright blue eyes bloodshot and crying, makeup running. Chloe was so beautiful it made Beca’s heart ache. Her hands tightly gripped the straps of Chloe’s black dress, as if trying to remind herself that the redhead really _was_ knelt in front of her, and wasn’t just a mirage. And for some reason, her forehead tilted forward until it was pressed against Chloe’s.

“I don’t…” Beca attempted again, trying to think of the words she was so desperately wanting to say. ‘…deserve you’ could’ve been one response, or ‘…know what to say” could’ve been another. But Beca sniffed loudly, then let out a heavy shaky sigh when she felt Chloe’s arms loosen around her so the redhead’s hands could smooth across her neck before cupping her cheeks.

She felt Chloe’s heavy breath wash across her chest, their foreheads still touching while they both cried. Beca had no idea why Chloe was crying. Beca was the one who needed to be sorry, not Chloe. Beca was the hopeless, useless, pointless entity on this planet. Not Chloe. And yet Chloe still found a need to cry.

Two years was a long time to not be in contact. A lot could happen in two years. But neither woman decided to immediately settle into a huge catch up session. For some reason, instead, Beca’s lips caught Chloe’s jaw, then the corner of her mouth, then suddenly she began pressing firm kisses on Chloe’s lips. Over and over.

It felt good. It felt right. It felt confusing. Then Beca began to feel guilty. She was taking advantage of Chloe. Surely she was. Chloe hadn’t come here to make out with her or have sex with her or whatever kind of thing Beca would undoubtedly encourage her to do (because so many women before Chloe forever bent over backwards to ‘please’ Beca by doing whatever she suggested).

To her surprise, she realised it was _she_ who was supporting Chloe’s body - the redhead having scrambled up onto Beca’s lap to straddle her waist. Their kisses had become deeper. More intense. And there was an air of experience in both women that had them both, eventually, breaking the kiss.

“Wait. Wait.” Beca mumbled, releasing an arm around Chloe’s waist to press her fingertips to her own mouth. She swallowed loudly, trying to get her head around what had just happened. What was _currently_ happening.

Chloe was straddled around her waist. Chloe’s hands were now resting palms down on her chest. And as Beca looked down at them, she noted that Chloe’s hands didn’t feel like a heavy weight. They felt _comforting_.

Her eyes then drifted from Chloe’s hands to Chloe’s cleavage, practically bursting from the top of her dress, and Beca felt a throbbing sensation between her legs. She’d give a lot to smash her face into that bosom and fall blissfully to sleep..

Then a cloud of guilt descended over the brunette. Because Chloe _hadn’t_ come for this. Beca had made the first move. Chloe was probably drunk. Hell, even Beca was probably a bit drunk too. Had it been any other girl, Beca wouldn’t have cared and would’ve carried on regardless. But this was _Chloe._ And…come to think of it, Chloe hadn’t even spoken a word yet.

“ _You don’t want this_.” she eventually whispered, and her eyes fluttered closed when she felt Chloe raise her right hand and smooth back some of her brown hair.

“How do you know this isn’t what I want?” came Chloe’s concerned response, and the way the woman cupped her cheek had Beca melting into Chloe’s touch. God, why did Chloe make everything so difficult and so easy all at once?

“Because I’m not the person you once knew.”


	8. Chapter 8

Chloe felt Beca’s tongue slip into her mouth expertly, as if she’d kissed like this a million times before. But if she had, it hadn’t been with her. And Chloe wondered, while her thumbs smoothed forward and back across Beca’s cheeks as she cupped them in her hands, why she was suddenly feeling _jealous_. She had no reason to be. After all, if anything _Chloe_ was the one who had made out with probably a million people ( _slight_ exaggeration). She’d lost count of how many she’d slept with.

The question was…were she and Beca going to sleep together tonight? The rate that they were making out would suggest yes. And the intensity and how quickly this make out session had suddenly happened seemed to also suggest that it was going to be a quick fumbled fuck _right now_ , on the floor of a shoddy venue dressing room, rather than the slow romantic love making she’d once imagined her ‘first time with Beca’ would be. But, having waited over ten years, and having had sex hundreds of times before with multiple people, Chloe realised…she didn’t _care_.

So long as she got to be intimate with Beca - the woman she’d longed to be with intimately for almost her entire adult life so far - even if it was only for a brief hour or two, Chloe conceded she would be fine. _Elated_ probably. Yes it’d hurt initially that Beca would then leave her and then they’d lose contact _again_. But tonight would always be her fondest memory.

Like right now, the feel of Beca holding her around the waist, supporting her physically was what surged Chloe on. How perfectly Beca’s body seemed to fit with her own…and they were only making out! Imagine how perfect they would fit if they were _having sex_. Their two bodies connecting..

Chloe’s hands began a slow decent, down Beca’s neck, brushing the woman’s collar bone, then resting on Beca’s chest just above her breasts. The brunette seemed to know exactly what she was doing too, her fingertips sweeping juuust beneath the hem of Chloe’s black dress and coming into contact with Chloe’s black lace panties. But just as Chloe was about to slip her right hand beneath Beca’s clothes and onto Beca’s left bra, she felt her estranged best friend break the kiss with a sharp snap.

“Wait. Wait.” Beca mumbled, and Chloe’s heart skipped a couple of beats. Shit. Perhaps Beca didn’t want this after all. Perhaps she’d just taken advantage of the situation. Perhaps (and Chloe swallowed loudly, her stomach knotting in horror when she realised) she’d just forced Beca to do something _she_ _didn’t want to do_.

Chloe looked at Beca as the brunette brought a hand to her mouth, the woman’s eyes down on Chloe’s hands that rested comfortably on Beca’s chest. She then thought she saw the recording artist’s gaze draw up slightly, looking directly at her cleavage, and Chloe noticed a look on Beca’s face that she’d never seen before. As though the sight of Chloe’s bosom turned Beca on. But her words didn’t match her facial expression:

“ _You don’t want this_.”

Beca’s whispered words already sounded to Chloe as though they’d been said reluctantly. And the redhead wondered if Beca either felt obliged to say it because it was her. Or if Beca said this to every girl she did this with, like a test or opportunity to give them ‘an out’. But Chloe decided instantly to not play along. She didn’t want ‘an out’. If Beca wanted this, then she was all in. Even if it _was_ just for tonight.

“How do _you_ know this isn’t what I want?” Chloe asked, bringing a hand up to gently smooth back a bit of Beca’s hair from her face. She noticed the way Beca’s eyes fluttered closed at the intimate motion, and for a moment Chloe wondered if anyone had been this _affectionate_ towards Beca recently.

And, judging by the reaction followed by words mumbled by the brunette, Chloe was beginning to feel like Beca probably hadn’t received affection in a _very_ long time.

“Because I’m not the person you once knew.”

It was an unusual thing to say in the ‘heat of the moment’. Just like it was an unusual thing to have to hear. And Chloe took a couple of beats to take it all in whilst staring into Beca’s deep blue eyes. Left eye to right eye then back again, over and over. Trying to read her, like she’d used to back in Brooklyn. Those days seemed so long ago now. And reading Beca was a challenge.

“Talk to me.” Chloe eventually said in a soft tone, her eyes drifting to her hands as she gently pushed Beca’s hair off her shoulders so it cascaded down her back. Those three words were ones she used to use with Beca all the time back in college. For the first couple of years Beca didn’t talk much when Chloe asked her to, but once out of college and living in the big wide world of Brooklyn, Beca would tell her _everything_. “Tell me what’s going on.” she added, looking back into Beca’s eyes. And she let out a breath of air she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, when the brunette’s arm returned round her waist, holding her securly in her lap once again.

“I don’t know who I am any more.”

Chloe watched as Beca shook her head slightly, a fresh tear slipping down the brunette’s cheek. But the confession caused a slight wave of relief to wash over Chloe’s body. Because Beca was feeling much how she was feeling. Lost, at an age and time of her life when she should apparently have all the answers. At least, that was what she’d been told growing up. “Life will start slotting into place when you reach thirty.” her Grandmother had kept kindly telling her. But Chloe was now nearing thirty one, and she had _lost_ more of herself rather than _finding_ more of herself.

“I think I’ve lost myself too.” Chloe confessed quietly, drawing her hand up to cup Beca’s cheek again, running her thumb delicately across to sweep away the rogue tear. Their eyes locked again, and Chloe felt her heart beginning to race a little faster. She could feel Beca’s chest rising and falling against her own.

They were no more wiser to how the other was feeling beyond a sense of ‘imposter syndrome’ that both were suffering from. But just as she was about to ask Beca to elaborate, the brunette surged forward again, kissing Chloe firmly on the lips once more, and Chloe couldn’t help rocking her hips into Beca as the woman’s hands snaked beneath the hem of her black dress. She pulled her estranged best friend by her face, ensuring the firmness of their kiss remained, deepening it when she briefly took a breath before slipping her tongue inside Beca’s mouth. And a low hum of approval escaped from the back of Chloe’s throat when she felt Beca’s hands expertly slip beneath her lace panties, gently squeezing her ass cheeks in encouragement..


	9. Chapter 9

“I think I’ve lost myself too.”

Beca found her eyes sinking deeper into Chloe’s the longer they sat on the floor of Beca’s ‘dressing room’ - Chloe straddling her waist, hands up to cup Beca’s face and delicately wiping away a tear that had escaped one of Beca’s aching eyes.

She could’ve asked Chloe what she’d meant by ‘lost herself’ or even asked her to explain _how_ she’d lost herself. But Beca had become a little distracted by how perfectly Chloe’s body seemed to feel wrapped around hers. Had realised that the smell emanating from Chloe‘s hair (Beca recognising it as the woman’s go-to shampoo that she’d used throughout the years they’d lived together in college and in Brooklyn) seemed to set alight a ball of desire within Beca. One that overshadowed any sane thought that might’ve crossed her mind.

Beca had alcohol in her system and was, for the first time, feeling more emotion and ambition than she’d ever felt with another person. That ambition specifically being her desire to taste her estranged best friend’s lips again.

The way Chloe rocked her hips into Beca the moment they both resumed kissing had unleashed Beca’s sex-drive and, almost without thinking, the brunette purposefully slipped her hands beneath the hem of Chloe’s dress then beneath her panties, before gently massaging Chloe’s ass cheeks. She heard a low hum of approval while the redhead deepened their kiss, and thanks to that hum, Beca quickly decided there was no going back from this. That this was something Chloe desired just as much as Beca did.

Beca broke the kiss with a sharp loud snap, and wasted no time in burying her face within Chloe’s cleavage, placing loud wet kisses on the woman’s soft skin while Chloe continued to hum in approval, her hips still rocking rhythmically to a slow silent beat.

Beca was a boob-girl. No question about it. She’d seen and felt many pairs of boobs over the past couple of years. But she’d always been certain none would match the sight nor feel nor _taste_ of Chloe Beale’s. And as her left hand escaped Chloe’s right ass cheek to slide the strap of the woman’s dress off her shoulder, before popping Chloe’s right boob out, Beca realised she’d been _entirely_ right.

There was a softness to Chloe’s boob unlike anything Beca had ever felt her mouth envelope around. The redhead’s nipple was erect, providing an easy target for Beca’s tongue to focus in on, swirling it around the hard tissue. And she enjoyed the sound of the sharp gasp Chloe expelled when she gently nipped at the nipple, followed by a hum of pleasure when Beca nursed the nip by sucking hard while swirling her tongue quickly.

The contact was broken hastily when Beca felt Chloe grabbing fistfuls of her hair and tugging her face up to meet hers. They shared a blistering, deep kiss, breath quickly escaping their noses. And without thinking, Beca rocked Chloe off her lap, to guide her expertly back onto the floor of her dressing room, tumbling on top of her while grappling for the hem of her dress again. All the while, enjoying the sloppy grin on Chloe’s face that spurred the brunette on in both speed and efficiency..


	10. Chapter 10

Chloe’s heart was hammering, her breathing fast as she raised her face to the ceiling of the dressing room. Her hand gripped a fistful of Beca’s hair, her eyes closed as she remained straddled around Beca’s waist while the brunette sucked on her right breast. God this was hot. And felt _incredible_.

Chloe could feel her panties getting wetter by the second, her chest heaving as she felt Beca’s tongue swirling around and around her nipple until - _ooh!_ \- the woman nipped it between her teeth, pressing down for the briefest of seconds to send a shockwave through Chloe’s body. A lazy grin swept across Chloe’s face when Beca began soothing the nip with her tongue once again. And Chloe couldn’t help the shaky exhale that fell from her mouth at the sheer pleasure coarsing through her body thanks to Beca’s incredible skills. Nobody had made Chloe feel like this before. And Chloe _loved_ it.

She felt Beca gently guiding her backwards, off her lap to lay on the floor. It was cool and slightly sticky. But Chloe had no reason to dwell on the presentation of the floor she was now laying on. Not now Beca was busy scrambling on top of her body, her hands swooping down to expertly tug up her dress, as though she’d done this to a million women before.

“Oh… _God_!” Chloe choked out as she felt Beca immediately swing her face down to her panties, the woman’s mouth engulfing the lace covering her pussy. God it felt good. And as the redhead looked down the length of her body, Beca pushed her tongue against the fabric covering Chloe’s clit.

Beca. It was finally _Beca_ between her legs. Beca who looked who-heartedly thrilled to be pleasuring Chloe. Thrilled and, as the brunette looked up at her, tongue still pressed against her clit, Chloe noticed a darkness within Beca’s gaze. As though this ‘quickie’ was deeply rooted by lust. And it only served to turn Chloe on even more. Beca _wanted_ her.

Chloe slammed her head back, her eyes squeezing closed and her back arching as Beca seamlessly swept Chloe’s panties to one side and stuck her tongue into the opening of the redhead’s pussy. As Beca lapped away, Chloe began to smell herself. The room was starting to smell of sex. And the thought that, once they left this room, whoever entered it after them would _smell her_ and how well Beca had _pleasured her,_ made Chloe even more turned on.

Her arousal rose and rose, her breathing becoming laboured. But there would always be a risk that Beca would make her come then that would be that. Beca would deem her contribution to this quick fuck complete and would leave. And Chloe _didn’t_ want that. Not until she’d made Beca come in return.

So suddenly, she sat up just enough to grab Beca’s arms, tugging the woman up the length of her body, laying back and receiving a fierce kiss from the brunette. Beca’s lips and mouth and tongue tasted of Chloe, and it drove both women wild. Chloe’s fingers fumbled to the base of Beca’s top, tugging at it enough for the garment to go over Beca’s head. Chloe shoved it across the room somewhere, her hands reaching down for Beca’s bra, desperate to slip beneath the cups to finally feel the breasts she’d dreamt about for years.

But as she did, Chloe’s head knocked back again and a deep moan left her throat. Because Beca’s left hand had darted back down Chloe’s body to her pussy again, and the woman quickly slipped beneath the fabric to find Chloe’s clit.

“ _God you’re wet_.” Beca mumbled between hot heavy kisses to Chloe’s neck, her breathing as laboured as Chloe’s while their bodies writhed together on the floor of the dressing room.

Chloe, still determined to not let Beca make her come first, brought her hands around to the clasp of the brunette’s bra, unhooking it. Doing so would leave Beca no choice but to sit up to remove it. And that, Chloe decided, would be when she’d strike.

But to her surprise, Beca expertly allowed the right strap to slip from her right arm, then switched hands at Chloe’s pussy, her right finger suddenly slipping inside while her right thumb worked her clit. Chloe took in a sharp breath, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, completely missing the way Beca took her own bra off while continuing to pleasure the redhead with a grin..


	11. Chapter 11

Beca was adamant she hadn’t felt more lust and desire for any one person then she did right now for Chloe Beale. _Chloe fucking Beale_. The one girl she’d craved for years. The one girl she’d chased in the form of one night stand after one night stand, redhead after redhead, imagining each time that the woman with her was Chloe. Desperate for intimacy with ‘the one that got away’.

She looked down at the person before her, continuing to grin. This was incredible. Chloe was actually _here_ _with her_. Her legs open, dress pushed up over her hips, her right boob out of the top, the nipple of which Beca reached out for with her left hand to gently pinch. And Chloe was smiling, eyes closed, clearly as thrilled about being in this moment with Beca as Beca was about being with her.

Beca’s right hand was busy working an orgasm between Chloe’s legs. Her thumb swept firmly back and forth across the redhead’s clit while her middle finger slipped easily in and out of Chloe’s wet pussy. The smell was intoxicating, driving Beca’s actions on further, the brunette letting out a heavy exhale of desire. Her hips, meanwhile, rocked so that her own pussy (currently hidden beneath her pants) pressed against Chloe’s thigh, building her own orgasm up.

Then for some reason, she slowed to a stop the moment she saw Chloe tilt her head down to look at her. Their hooded eyes locked, and Beca felt a knot in her stomach as she saw Chloe laid on the grubby looking floor of her dressing room. _Fuck_. What the hell was she doing??

“ _Shhhhhit_.” Beca muttered, pulling her finger from Chloe’s pussy and immediately snapping her hand away, “Shit, shit, shit, shiiiit.” and she rolled off Chloe’s thigh, turning her back on the redhead.

Chloe didn’t deserve this. She _absolutely_ didn’t deserve this. Chloe was sunshine and comfort and kindness and love and…Beca was treating her like one of her one night stands! No, she was treating her _worse_ than her one night stands. She would at least take a girl back to her hotel room after a drink and some small talk. Right now she’d barely said a word before beginning to fuck Chloe _on her dressing room floor_. The girl she’d dreamt of having sex with she had just treated like garbage. And Beca felt _horrible_.

“What’s happened?”

Chloe’s question, so soft and laced with confusion, caused a wave of emotion to crash over Beca’s body, and suddenly the brunette burst into tears again. Her palms pushed hard against her cheeks, her fingers covering her eyes, while she let out a huge sob. She was so fucked up. What the hell kind of person starts to screw their estranged best friend only minutes after seeing them for the first time in two years?? Chloe deserved the world. Not a quick fuck that would inevitably lead to a one night stand that Beca would be too emotionally challenged and closed-up to address the next morning.

Chloe was better off without her. Everyone was. She just needed to keep performing like her label wanted. Keep making them money. Keep making her Dad proud. Keep away from The Bellas to save them from her chaotic lifestyle. Keep away from Chloe to save her fr-

The feel of Chloe’s hand resting on her shoulder caused Beca to jump from her dark thoughts. And her hands fell from her face into her lap while she sniffed loudly. So fucked up. Such a fucking dick. Such a fucking, messed up, useless, pointless, sorry-assed, selfish cu-

“Beca…”

Chloe again tugged Beca from the dark internal hole she kept falling down, this time with the simple use of her name, spoken tentatively. Nobody had spoken to her like that in so long. In so _so_ long. Not since…well not since Chloe had during the final few days they’d been living together in Brooklyn, two years ago. The redhead’s hand lifted from her shoulder and Beca suddenly felt cool where Chloe’s hand had once been.

“ _Talk to me_.” Chloe whispered, and Beca dared to slowly look over her shoulder. The redhead’s expression matched the tone of her voice - Chloe still lying back on the floor, her dress still ridden up and her panties a bit skewed, but her arms now propped her upper body up to look at Beca more intently. She would understand. She‘d _have_ to understand. And if she didn’t then…Beca would continue through this horrible life alone. Just as she had done the past couple of years.

“I’ve slept with so many women.” Beca began, her chest tightening as she said the words out loud, “ _So many women_.” she added in a whispered tone.

The room was silent, though there was the sound of footsteps going up and down the corridor outside as well as the sound of the stage team dismantling Beca’s set nearby. All Beca and Chloe could do was look at each other while Beca mustered the confidence to continue baring all.

“And this’ll probably freak you out but…” Beca paused to take a deep breath, her heart pounding, “…they were all redhead’s.”


	12. Chapter 12

“What’s happened?”

Chloe’s mouth hung slightly open, completely frozen on the spot, ignoring the indecency that was her right breast hanging out the top of her dress, while her legs remained open, dress ridden up to reveal her panties. And beside her, back turned and head hanging, was Beca. Beca who had just suddenly snapped out of her confident sexual self to become this sad, quiet…almost a completely different person.

What’d happened?? Was it something she’d said? Or done? Or not said? Or not done? Had she reminded Beca of a particularly traumatic event or situation that had suddenly burst to the forefront of her mind? Chloe was so confused.

Her bright blue eyes found their way down the length of Beca’s hunched form. The brunette had always been petite. Had always had pale skin (that she remembered Beca admitting was an insecurity of hers). And had always been slim. But Chloe couldn’t ignore the outline of Beca’s spine. Beca really _had_ become skinny. And Chloe feared the woman she loved had truly given up on herself.

Her words seemed to have struck a chord with Beca. But not a good chord. Because all of a sudden the brunette burst into tears. Chloe sat up properly and she swallowed loudly as Beca let out a huge sob.

Chloe could remember a time when Beca used to turn her back on her during something Beca used to call a ‘wig-out’. When the woman would freak about something - whether it was something she was stressed about or couldn’t complete or couldn’t get her head around or even when she struggled with intimate contact. Those wig-outs had occurred fairly regularly during Beca’s Sophomore year of college, then eased during Junior and Senior year, before resuming again the year after graduation (not-so coincidently around the time Jesse had broken up with her). It’d taken Chloe a good year of (yes, sharing a fold-out bed but) living in a studio apartment with her (and Fat Amy) for the redhead to garner Beca’s trust enough for the woman to wig-out while facing her. Now _those_ wig-outs had usually meant that Chloe had been able to step in swiftly and calm Beca before the woman became too closed-off.

Right now though, Chloe struggled to work out what Beca needed from her. They’d been connecting again - admittedly in ways they never had before - which Chloe thought had been what Beca had wanted. But perhaps it hadn’t been? Perhaps it hadn’t even been what she herself had wanted? Perhaps this had just been a heat of the moment/overwhelmed to see each other/craving each other’s affection and attention/making the most of however little time that they had together..sort of thing?

Chloe took a quiet intake of breath, reached her hand out, and gently rested her hand on Beca’s shoulder. Not too firm or intimidating. Not too soft and weird. Just how she imagined Beca would want to be touched in this very situation. And for a moment she wondered if it had worked, because Beca’s hands dropped down to her lap, and the brunette let out a loud sniff then…

Nothing.

The room remained silent, Beca’s crying having sort of subsided. The two women hadn’t seen each other in two years. Hadn’t been in contact. Hadn’t been in close proximity. Yet here they were, finally together again and…Chloe had never felt further away from Beca than she did right now.

“Beca…” Chloe mumbled as she removed her hand from the woman’s shoulder, almost begging her with as reserved a desperate whisper as she could muster, “ _Talk to me_.”

Chloe sat back once again, resting her upper body on her arms as she watched her estranged best friend in concern. Retreating. Giving Beca as much space as she could bear. Beca remained topless and vulnerable, but slowly looked over her shoulder to look down at Chloe. The redhead’s heart skipped a beat.

Progress.

“I’ve slept with so many women.” Beca began, and Chloe couldn’t help her eyebrows rising slightly. Was that the reason why Beca was shying away all of a sudden? Was she ashamed?? “ _So many women_.” the brunette added with a whisper.

As the room fell silent again, and their eyes locked, Chloe felt her body yearning to reach out and pull Beca into a tight embrace. Wanting to squeeze out all her anxiety and worry. Because she didn’t care that Beca had slept with loads of women before her. _She’d_ slept with loads of women before _Beca_!

“And this’ll probably freak you out but…”

Beca’s paused caused Chloe’s heart to slip a beat as her stomach knotted. But? But what? Oh God what was going on??

“…they were all redhead’s.”

Again Chloe’s eyebrows rose, this time in surprise. She heard Beca let out a heavy sigh, the woman looking at her entirely worried, “It’s crazy. I know it’s crazy. But I’ve just been so desperate to be with you, like, in _every_ way, but I haven’t been able to and I guess me having sex with all those redhead’s was just me wishing I was having sex with _you_ and…”

Chloe swallowed loudly while Beca let out a huge groan, turning her back on the redhead once again then throwing her face in her hands, mumbling against her palms, “Oh God I’m just the worst person in the _world_!”

Chloe slowly sat up again, this time with every intention of trying to ease Beca’s woes. This wasn’t easy for either of them. But she was about to make things a little more acceptable for Beca, who seemed to really knock herself down. It were as though the woman had taken massive steps backwards in terms of confidence in herself and her self-worth. And it broke Chloe’s heart to see.

“I’m a psycho.” Beca eventually announced, her hands dropping down again, addressing Chloe without looking at her, “A massive fucking failure of a psycho and I totally get if you want to leave right now and never see or talk to me again.”

What came next was an entirely compulsive bold move from Chloe that she didn’t hesitate in making for one second. The redhead leant further forward and place a firm kiss on Beca’s shoulder. One that she hoped would assure her without pressuring her. And in an odd way, as Chloe leant back slightly, she thought she saw Beca’s shoulders relax a little.

“If having sex with heaps of red haired women because you wanted to have sex with me makes you psycho…” Chloe began calmly, a tiny soft smile quirking onto her face, “…then I guess I’m pretty psycho too.”

She watched with baited breath as Beca slowly tried to comprehend what she was saying. And though it was hard to tell from the back of Beca’s head, Chloe had a feeling the woman was beginning to work it out. As Beca turned to look at her once again, Chloe felt she should elaborate a little further, and did so while gently sweeping her fingertips across Beca’s bare back.

“I’ve slept with a _lot_ of women too. All petite brunette’s. All one night stands. All because I desperately wanted them to be you.”


	13. Chapter 13

Beca could’ve burst into tears again. Tears of relief. Tears of confusion. Tears of joy. Chloe wasn’t judging her. Chloe was…actually admitting she’d done the same thing as her. Had slept with tonnes of women that looked like Beca because she actually wished it was her instead! Chloe was accepting Beca, just like she’d _always_ accepted Beca.

Her eyes bore into Chloe’s, their hearts once again beating as one. And the entire situation felt so bittersweet because sadly, in twenty four hours time Beca would be flying away. Away from Chloe. Away from comfort and safety and acceptance and-

Beca was broken from her thoughts as she felt Chloe gently take her arm, and with that guidance, Beca raised and turned her body, settling on Chloe’s lap. As her legs wrapped around Chloe’s waist, her arms slipped around Chloe’s neck while Chloe’s arms slipped around her waist. And a huge heavy sigh of relief swept from both woman’s mouths as they relaxed into one another’s bodies, hugging each other tightly with their eyes closed.

“I’ve missed you so much.” Beca mumbled against Chloe’s skin, and she felt the woman smile.

“I’ve missed you so much too.”

Beca hadn’t been this intimate with anyone in a very very long time. Hadn’t held or been held like this. Hadn’t even thought she’d missed it until now. But there was the way that Chloe held her that passed protection and comfort and safety through to the brunette. Her body felt supported and loved, her soul felt comforted and complete. And it overwhelmed Beca a little that just one person could make her feel that way. _The_ person.

“Wanna get outta here and grab some dinner?”

The question was calm and quiet, and Beca knew exactly why. Chloe would’ve seen and felt how slim she’d become. Even Beca was aware of how she’d gotten really slim over the past couple of years. Sometimes the skin covering her spine bruised if she sat in a chair for too long or her hips would ache if she laid on her side overnight. She’d got like this when she’d been around sixteen. Back then her Mom had sent her to therapy and it’d kind of worked enough for Beca to be allowed to go to Barden without a referral to a different therapist at eighteen. She’d told Chloe about her eating _habits_ (or lack of) at twenty one. But in the past couple of years she’d had _no one_. So Beca had kinda just spiralled out of control..

“Yeah okay.” Beca agreed, taking a deep intake of breath to try to avoid apologising again. Because Chloe’s inevitable response would be that she never needed to apologise to her. And while Beca knew it to be true, there was something about being with Chloe again that had Beca feeling more apologetic than she ever had been before. She was so very far from the person she’d once been when Chloe had known her that she felt a huge urge to apologise over and over and over again.

“Sorry.” she added, the word slipping out without realising, and she heard a tiny tut leave Chloe’s mouth while the redhead leant her head back to place a gentle kiss on Beca’s neck.

“What do you want to eat?” Chloe asked seriously, and had it been any other time, Beca would’ve smirked before responding “You.” But everything was different right now. Being with Chloe. The way Chloe made her _feel_. Completely different. So Beca took another deep intake of breath, sitting back comfortably in Chloe’s lap, her arms still around the redhead’s neck while her fingers fiddled with some strands of Chloe’s hair.

The question was much like a popular ice-breaker question. Like ‘ _If you only had one day left to live, what would be your last meal?_ ’ or ‘ _If you could only eat the same one meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?_ ’. Beca had thought about the answer to those two questions regularly over the past couple of years. And the answer was exactly the same as what she’d tell Chloe right now:

“Is it too much to ask for your homemade Vegan Pie?”


	14. Chapter 14

“Is it too much to ask for your vegan pie?”

The suggestion took Chloe completely by surprise. Her vegan pie?? God she hadn’t made that meal in a _long_ time. Not since living in Brooklyn actually. With Beca.

She racked her brains, trying to remember what ingredients were in her cupboard in the kitchen she shared back at her student accommodation. She probably had enough mushrooms. And flour. And at least _one_ vegan stock cube. And probably some butter in the fridge too. If not she’d borrow some from one of the other students who shared the kitchen, and try to remember to replace it before they noticed..

“It’s too much.” she heard Beca quickly conclude with a groan, and she felt the woman begin to attempt to pull away from her, “Ugh I knew it. I’m sorry. We can just go to a Wendy’s or something, I dunno-”

But Chloe held Beca firmly round the waist, a kind smile on her face, “Hey it’s okay.” she assured in a calm quiet tone, and it seemed to almost be enough to return Beca back to her, “I’ll have enough ingredients back home. I’m happy to make it for us.”

Being mindful to specifically say ‘Us’ was an intentional decision. Chloe didn’t want Beca to feel like she was being an inconvenience. Chloe wanted Beca to feel comfortable enough that she’d actually eat something. Something substantial and proper. Potentially the first ‘home-cooked’ meal she’d eaten in a long long time.

“With Awesome Potatoes?” Beca asked sheepishly, in a quiet voice, her hands down between them while she fiddled anxiously with her rings. Chloe’s arms remained wrapped around the woman’s body, and a kind smile continued on her face. ‘Awesome Potatoes’ was the name Beca had given Chloe’s signature creamed potatoes from the very first time she’d tried them back at Barden all those years ago. Easy to make really, though Beca had always maintained that Chloe and only Chloe made the very best potatoes.

“Of course.” Chloe replied, not meaning to chuckle slightly. There was something endearing about the way Beca had remembered ‘Awesome Potatoes’, “And gravy?” she checked, and again let out a small chuckle when Beca’s whole face seemed to suddenly light up.

“Oh God your gravy was the best!” the brunette said whistfully, and Chloe felt her heart warm. She’d not had anyone pay any attention to her ability as a cook since coming to Davis. Once upon a time she’d loved cooking. Then being here and not really having the same support network she’d had back at Barden had meant she’d had more in the way of ‘ready meals’. And then there was the whole sleeping around thing and one night stands that meant Chloe rarely thought about cooking a meal any more.

“I’ll need to call an Uber then.” Chloe said, reluctantly moving one hand from Beca’s waist, twisting her body slightly to reach across the floor for her purse, “They take ages to arrive round here for some reason.” And as she caught hold of her purse and resumed her position, she heard Beca tentatively say:

“Um…I could always get my driver to take us?”

It was said in a way that Chloe suspected meant that Beca was _very_ embarrassed to admit that she had a driver. And Chloe didn’t know why Beca would be embarrassed. If anything, it should be expected of someone with such huge success and fame. _Chloe_ was embarrassed it hadn’t even occurred to her that Beca might have a better means of transport than _an_ _Uber_.

“Yeah. Terry.” Beca continued to explain, bringing a hand to the back of her head to scratch it awkwardly, “He drives me wherever I want to go,” and she brought her fingers down, running through her long brown hair, “unless the label have already given him directions.”

Chloe kept her eyes on Beca’s face while the brunette’s hands settled between them, resting on the purse. And she noticed the way Beca’s eyes had drifted their attention to Chloe’s cleavage again. She wondered if the woman had been much like her over the past couple of years: very little physical foreplay before launching into a quick, heated one night stand. They’d been very close to having one only minutes ago. But for once Chloe wanted things to be different. And she wanted things to be different for Beca too.

She let go of her purse and raised her hand slightly. Her fingertips gently brushed down the side of Beca’s left breast, curving under, then slowly ascended up to Beca’s nipple. Once at the hard nub, Chloe pinched it lightly, briefly, once, before returning to the beginning and slowly going again.

Chloe heard Beca hum for a moment, and as her eyes flickered back up to the brunette’s, she saw that Beca’s eyes had become hooded once more. Beca’s right hand came up to smooth her fingertips up and down Chloe’s neck. And with the third circuit of Chloe’s gentle stroking, the brunette leant her face slowly back to Chloe’s, nudging the tip of her nose against hers.

“You’re sure the whole ‘ _slept with loads of women_ ’ thing doesn’t both you?” Beca mumbled under her breath, and Chloe let out a shaky exhale while her head gently shook. Because she really _really_ didn’t care. Her heart thumped quickly against her chest, and she felt sure Beca was attempting to rock her hips into her already. But she didn’t have much time to dwell on it. Because suddenly Beca kissed her firmly on the lips..


	15. Chapter 15

Beca was in some sort of trance as she felt Chloe’s tongue slip expertly into her mouth, skimming around the roof of her mouth before darting down to wrestle with her tongue. Their breath had become laboured again, Chloe’s left hand at the small of Beca’s back while her right hand cupped Beca’s left boob. Beca, meanwhile, decided to take charge of the fact that she was the only one topless here.

The brunette brought both hands to Chloe’s shoulders and proceeded to drag down the straps, hearing a light hum sound from the back of the woman’s throat, the feel of which reverberated into Beca’s mouth. Somehow Beca leant back enough to gain a good angle and scooped Chloe’s boobs from within her dress, and she wasted no time in breaking the kiss to draw her mouth down - first to Chloe’s right boob, then to her left, swirling her tongue around the nipple as though they were an obvious and direct target.

The feel of Chloe’s hand releasing her boob to grab a fistful of Beca’s hair, spurred the brunette on. And, entirely consumed by the sudden heat of the moment, successfully thrusted her petite frame forward, knocking Chloe off balance. The redhead let out a small squeak, but Beca didn’t break the contact her lips had over Chloe’s boob as they both fell to the floor.

Beca had every intention of resuming what she’d started with Chloe a few minutes ago. But Chloe had other ideas, and the brunette released the woman’s boob with a snap as she took in a sharp intake of breath. Chloe flipped Beca to the side, rolling on top of her, and in one swift motion proceeded to duck down to suck Beca’s left boob.

The brunette’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, a lazy grin on her face as her hands rose to tangle her fingers in the thickets of Chloe’s red hair. And a light moan rumbled from the back of her throat as she felt Chloe’s fingers fumbling to unbutton her black pants, tongue still swirling around Beca’s nipple.

It wasn’t as though Beca hadn’t got laid in a while. On the contrary, she usually brought a girl back to her hotel room every night. But this here with Chloe felt different. Felt a million times better. Felt… _right_. So it was only natural that Beca moaned a little louder when Chloe’s hand slipped between the waistband of her pants then her panties, the woman’s fingers expertly finding her clit.

She felt warm breath on her neck, bringing Beca back into the moment, and she realised that for a few seconds she must’ve blanked out - long enough for Chloe to release her nipple and move her mouth up Beca’s body. The first nip on her neck illicited a slight ‘yip’ from the brunette, but with it a broad smile swept across Beca’s face. A love bite? Could she really get away with letting Chloe leave a love bite on her neck? Her label were strict with her: she could have as many lovers as she liked, as long as the public never found out, and as long as said lovers didn’t leave a mark on Beca suggesting her privately promiscuous ways.

But Chloe was different. Chloe meant more to Beca than words could say. And although the label controlled most things in Beca’s life, there was one factor they didn’t. And that one factor was Chloe Beale.

Beca drew in a sharp ragged breath between her teeth while Chloe’s middle finger slipped from her engorged clitoris down to the opening of her pussy, slipping inside. And somehow the brunette managed to muster a string of words:

“I want you to mark me.”

She heard Chloe hum against her skin, then felt the woman’s tongue slide around in small circles. Beca gripped her bottom lip between her teeth, her chest rising up, back arching off the grubby dressing room floor. A reaction to Chloe’s thumb that had begun moving swiftly left to right and back again over Beca’s clit, over and over, causing Beca’s orgasm to build.

“ _What did you have in mind?_ ” she heard Chloe mumble into her ear, her tongue then sliding from Beca’s earlobe, down and along her jawline, then across and down her neck. Beca could feel a wave of sexual pleasure building, as if blocked by a huge internal dam. But Chloe’s thumb rubbed against Beca’s clit so efficiently, the brunette was certain that dam was shortly about to burst.

“My neck.” Beca quickly instructed, “I want a mark of you on my neck.”

She felt Chloe tug a piece of skin on her neck between her teeth. As the redhead sucked hard, a smile swept onto Beca’s face. A mark left by Chloe would be the perfect sign of rebellion. The perfect way to show the label that they _didn’t_ control every aspect of her life. That she was still human. With needs and interests of her own, beyond her career. And right now, her needs and interests were _all_ about Chloe.

As the pain from Chloe’s mouth stretched through her pain receptors, Beca’s nose wrinkled and her eyes squeezed shut. But her smile remained. Because all of a sudden, Chloe released Beca’s neck. And in tandem with that, Beca’s orgasm was released too.

Chloe’s hand stilled within Beca’s panties, the redhead’s tongue soothing the love bite she’d left on Beca’s neck while the musician’s hips twitched with each wave of her orgasm that overwhelmed her body. Beca let out a huge exhale of relief, and as Chloe drew her hand from between Beca’s legs, the brunette let out a choked chuckle. Her chest rose up and down quickly as she attempted to steady her breathing.

And she brought her hands to Chloe’s cheeks to guide the woman’s mouth up to her own, placing a firm kiss on Chloe’s lips with a grin.

“ _Fuck_.” Beca muttered, letting out a heavy sigh as she opened her eyes and saw Chloe looking down at her with a proud smile on her face. Officially the best orgasm of Beca’s life, and Beca had a feeling Chloe knew it.


	16. Chapter 16

Chloe stepped into the lobby area of her student accommodation, her arms crossing over her stomach as her purse swung from her shoulder. She looked behind her to see Beca, crouched by the blacked-out passenger window of a very expensive looking black car, speaking to the driver. _Beca’s driver_. Chloe swallowed loudly.

She’d never brought a girl back to hers like this. Not like in a blacked-out Mercedes - though that _was_ new. No, she’d never brought a girl back to hers _while sober_. She’d never brought a girl back to hers _so calmly_. Neither were making out. Neither were all over each other. And for once, Chloe wasn’t having to _pretend_ that the woman she’d brought back was Beca. Because it actually _was_ Beca.

A small smile spread on her face as she watched the brunette bid goodbye to her driver before stepping away from the car and up into the lobby, a small smile on her own face.

“I told him he didn’t need to stick around.” Beca explained as the car drove away, and she stopped beside Chloe, letting out a sharp exhale. The two women looked at each other with twinned expressions, clearly both thrilled to have more time together but also anxious about making the most of it.

Shortly after bringing Beca to orgasm, Chloe had delighted in being rolled onto her back, Beca sidling down the length of her torso to settle her face between her legs. And after several minutes of the brunette keeping Chloe teetering teasingly on the edge of an orgasm, Chloe finally came hard. They’d both kissed each other and had hummed in relief and relaxation whilst being held in one another’s arms on the floor of Beca’s dressing room. When they’d eventually decided to leave for Chloe’s, they both straightened their clothes so they looked more presentable, before heading out of the room. Chloe hadn’t noticed the looks Beca’s security outside the door had given the brunette. Which was probably a good thing given how out of place Chloe already felt having a glimpse into Beca’s ‘Rock n Roll’ lifestyle.

“So my apartment’s just up this way.” Chloe began, indicating to the _clickety-clack_ elevator, “Third floor.”

Impressively the elevator doors were already open ready and waiting for them, and Chloe stepped inside it, closely followed by Beca. She was trying her hardest to not feel embarrassed, but it was difficult. Beca’s lavish lifestyle probably consisted of luxurious hotel suites and fine dining, personal assistants bowing to her every whim. Of all the hundreds of girls who would’ve brought Beca back to theirs after a show, Chloe was certain they would’ve all had living arrangements way more beautiful than hers. A place that Beca _deserved_ to be brought back to.

“I will warn you.” she began while the doors of the elevator clunked closed, “It’s a bit of a dive.”

She turned to look at Beca, more than used to the sudden jolt the elevator made whenever it began moving up or down floors. To her surprise, Beca had already been glancing at her with a sheepish grin. Chloe swallowed, hesitating for a moment.

“What?” she asked, her smile dropping, worried that her crappy living arrangements were causing Beca to have second thoughts about coming back to hers.

“You _do_ realise I’m here for you and not your apartment, right?”

Chloe couldn’t help the sharp exhale that escaped her mouth while her face flew down to her feet, embarrassed that she’d insinuated that Beca was interested in anything _but_ her.

“Not…I didn’t mean I’m only here for sex.” Beca quickly added, and a chuckle fell from Chloe’s mouth, sensing how flustered her friend was becoming, “Not that the sex wasn’t great I just…” there was a pause and as Chloe looked over at the brunette she heard a heavy sigh come from Beca, the woman clearly trying to start her thought process again. She enjoyed the way Beca looked at her seriously, “You could take me to the worst place in the world and I really wouldn’t notice. Because it means everything to me that I get to be with you.”

Chloe swallowed loudly, fully aware that her cheeks were flushing pink at the compliment. This definitely _was_ different to any of the previous times she’d brought a girl up to her apartment. She never been spoken to the way Beca was speaking to her now - probably because most of the girls she had a one night stand with were somewhat overwhelmed and intimidated by her beauty.

But Beca had known Chloe for a long time. Knew what Chloe looked like at her very worst. So for the woman to still say such nice things made Chloe feeling warm and _wanted_. Wanted for the first time in a very long time.

The elevator clunked to a stop with a jolt, arriving at the third floor, and the two women snapped their gaze from each other to the opening doors. Chloe took the lead, reaching into her purse for her apartment key. She heard Beca following close behind, and hoped the brunette wouldn’t notice the state of the tatty carpeted hallway leading up to her student accommodation.

It was a conscious decision of Chloe’s to not look for Beca’s reaction the moment they stepped inside. Easier to just head right for her room and let the brunette wait in there while she rustled up some Vegan Pie as promised. At least her room looked semi-presentable. She hoped…

Chloe grimaced internally as she unlocked then stepped inside her bedroom, realising that she hadn’t even bothered to properly tidy before leaving for the ‘mystery gig’ Darnell had arranged for them to attend. Even with the intention of bringing a girl back (though it had never been so much as a thought that she’d actually manage to bring _Beca_ back), Chloe had got into an awful rut of laziness (or was it confidence?) that left her justifying that no girl coming back with her would ever care about the state of her room. Especially with the lights off. All they usually needed was a bed.

She heard a light chuckle come from her friend and winced as she glanced over at Beca. The brunette had an amused expression on her face as she peered at all of Chloe’s clothes scattered on the floor.

“Good to see you’ve not changed _that_ much in two years.”

Beca had lived with Chloe for six years before. She knew _exactly_ how chaotic the redhead could be. How disorganised she often was when overwhelmed by a full schedule. And how that chaos often showed itself in the form of discarded clothes around the floor instead of inside the laundry basket, a messy kitchen, or late nights binge-watching trashy shows on Netflix.

“Are you alright waiting here for a bit while I sort dinner?” Chloe asked, feeling a little more at ease that Beca seemed to be less than horrified at the state of her room. She watched as the brunette turned to her with a slightly furrowed brow.

“You trying to hide me?” Beca asked, taking Chloe by surprise at the insinuation.

“Huh?”

An amused grin poked onto Beca’s face, her eyebrows relaxing as she motioned casually to the rest of the room, “Keeping me in your room instead of letting me watch you cook.”

Chloe’s eyebrows rose, and along with them her heart. Of all the things in the world to do that Beca had access to, the last thing Chloe expected the multi-millionaire would want to do is watch her cook. Particularly when she was so messy while doing so. But as she looked into Beca’s deep blue eyes, she felt a brief wave of calm crash across her, causing a coy smile to wash across her face.

“You can watch me cook if you like?”

———

Chloe held her fork in her hand, a small smile on her face as she watched Beca shovelling Vegan Pie into her mouth as if it would disappear were she not to eat her plateful instantly. The brunette had never been much of an eater, Chloe knew that almost from the first year she’d met the woman. But the way Beca was eating the meal Chloe had just cooked them, had the host wondering just how much Beca actually ate. After all, the brunette was far thinner than Chloe had ever known her to be, and it hadn’t been as though Beca had ever had much weight left to lose.

“Can I ask you something personal?” Chloe attempted, her eyes falling down to her own plate that was still 2/3rds full (as opposed to Beca who had barely three mouthfuls left until she’d cleared the plate).

“Sure.” Beca replied, and Chloe hadn’t needed to look up to know that Beca didn’t mind in the slightest. Even though they’d not seen each other in two years, there was still a good eight years of close friendship that had formed an unbreakable bond between them.

“Do you ever get time to eat?”

Chloe brought her gaze up just in time to see Beca swallow a large mouthful loudly. Their eyes met. And for a split-second, during a brief pause, Chloe feared she’d overstepped the mark. To her relief, Beca shrugged.

“They try to schedule it in.”

‘They’ presumably meaning ‘the label’. Chloe felt a little sick. But she mostly felt a ball of anger bubbling up inside of her. Trying to schedule in a time for someone to eat should never be a task. It should be a necessity. A basic human right. Beca needed to _eat_.

“I know that look.” Beca added, bringing Chloe out of her initial thought process, “Don’t go tracking my label down, hell-bent on yelling at someone. It’s my own decision too.”

Chloe had opened her mouth to protest Beca’s blatant mind-reading. But it snapped closed the second Beca had added her final sentence. ‘Not eating’ was her decision? _Why_??


	17. Chapter 17

Beca stirred in her sleep, bringing her hand to her eyes and rubbing each one roughly before slowly opening them. She was groggy. But not due to lack of sleep (something she was more than used to). Groggy because she’d actually managed to _get_ some sleep.

She looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, then followed the morning light to its source, surrounding drawn curtains around a large window. It wasn’t a new thing for her to wake up somewhere unknown. Touring the world meant a new hotel every night. So she was used to waking in a different room to ‘home’. But what she _wasn’t_ used to was the feeling of a full stomach. Nor was she used to the familiar comforting scent of Chloe’s perfume..

Beca turned her head gently to look to her left and saw the redhead tucked up in bed beside her. Her heart rose and a tired smile swept onto her face as she watched Chloe’s body rise and fall with each steady breath the woman took in her sleep.

After graduation, they’d lived together in Brooklyn. Had even shared a bed as it’d been cheaper (and Fat Amy had left them with little other option). And for those couple of years of sharing a bed, Beca couldn’t remember a morning when she _hadn’t_ woken before Chloe. Couldn’t remember a morning when she _hadn’t_ looked over at the redhead and watched her longingly while Chloe had slept. She couldn’t believe that Chloe had yearned for her in return. Couldn’t believe neither of them had mentioned anything until now. Now that it was too late.

The familiarity of this old morning habit of watching Chloe filled Beca with a sense of warmth and comfort. Which was convenient given that they were both laying beneath the same blanket completely naked.

Last night Chloe had chipped away down to Beca’s core, and for the first time in two years Beca had finally let someone in. She’d cried to Chloe. A lot. Had cried about how hectic her life was. How lonely her life was. How her head filled with dangerous thoughts on all too many occasions now. And how drinking alcohol seemed to numb those thoughts for a little while. As had sleeping around.

She’d cried when Chloe had cupped her cheeks and had kissed her softly. She’d continued to cry when Chloe had whispered that she loved her no matter what. And the more she thought about that love, the more Beca could now feel tears building in her eyes. Her nose tingled. Her body quaked. Life was so unfair.

They could’ve been happy. Could’ve carried on living in Brooklyn together. Sure, they wouldn’t have had much money, but they would’ve had each other. And, in a way, Beca realised they’d kinda always had each other when they’d been at college together. Had definitely always had each other post-graduation in Brooklyn. Throughout her adult life until the beginning of her music career, Chloe had been her biggest supporter and advocate, just as she had tried to be _Chloe’s_ biggest supporter and advocate.

She wondered why that had changed over the past couple of years. Had it been her fault? Had she been so consumed and overwhelmed by the whole new world that becoming an overnight sensation brought, that losing touch with the most important person in her life had only been natural? Beca’s chest tightened as the guilt fell over her body, almost suffocating her. How could she have done that to Chloe? Chloe who had only ever loved her and done the best for her. Chloe who Beca hands down did not deserve. And yet…Chloe still stayed (as much as Beca would allow her to).

The brunette jumped at the sound of her phone ringing across the room. Instinctively, she launched out of Chloe’s bed, leaping for her pants that had been discarded on the floor near Chloe’s desk last night. She scrambled, cursing under her breath while fumbling to pull the device from her pants pocket, missing the sound of Chloe waking then sitting up slowly in bed.

“Hello?” Beca answered the call, having been too panicked to check the caller ID.

“Beca, we need you back.”

Beca’s stomach sank at the sound of Theo’s stressed voice, her free arm wrapping across her stomach as she turned and perched naked on the edge of the bed. Her back was to Chloe. She’d already caught a glimpse of the redhead’s dozy expression, Chloe already looking worried and sad in one go.

“I thought I had ‘til tonight?” Beca replied in a tired voice, closing her eyes to try to prevent herself from crying as she felt Chloe’s soft fingertips smoothing gently up and down her bare back.

“Yeah um…that was my screw-up.” Theo admitted down the phone, “Time difference. I thought we didn’t need to leave until tonight but we actually have to leave by midday if we want to arrive in Sydney in time for the morning chat show you’re due to perform on.”

“Right.” was the only word Beca could bring herself to release with a grunt, taking a deep intake of breath through her nose in an attempt to compose herself. She’d need to make the most of the time she had left with Chloe. “What time is it now?”

“Ten thirty.”

Beca’s eyes flung open, missing the way Chloe had retracted her hand in shock. They’d slept until _ten thirty_??

“I’m so sorry Beca. I really did want to give you more time with Chloe.”

Theo could’ve said anything. _Anything_. None of it would make Beca feel better. Now, instead of crippling herself with the disappointment of having been in _requited_ love with her best friend for years and only just finding out, Beca was now overcome with the crippling disappointment that she’d need to leave Chloe to get to the airport. Immediately.

“Terry’s waiting outside. You need to be back here as soon as possible, Beca. _Please_.”

Beca knew why Theo had begged at the end of that instruction. On all too many occasions the brunette had been either too lazy or too tired or just too stubborn to conform to what was being asked of her. She wished it was at least six thirty in the morning. Or perhaps even last night again. Anything to get more time with Chloe. To be able to kiss her and hold her and chat to her and have sex with her. The whole night all over again.

She ended the call with no more words, dropping her phone down onto the floor with a thud and she hung her head. The room was silent. But she could still make out the faintest sound of Chloe breathing behind her.

Beca slowly turned to look over her shoulder, tears in her eyes. And the tightness in her chest increased tenfold the second she saw Chloe, a tear rolling down the redhead’s cheek already. She never ever wanted to be the cause of Chloe’s upset.

“I guess it was always going to be too good to be true.” Chloe said, cutting the silence with a sniff and swiping away the tear that hung from her chin, “You being around until tonight.”

Beca swallowed loudly, having not felt unhappiness similar to this since leaving Brooklyn a couple of years ago. She shifted her body around a little more on the bed. It would be easy to just get up and leave. To put the barriers up around her feelings and tell Chloe that it was for the best. But this was _Chloe_. The one person in the world that Beca admired and respected more than anyone else. Even more than her own father.

“I don’t _want_ to go. I-I want to spend the rest of the day with you.” Her voice broke at her confession, desperately disappointed that her life was being reclaimed again and placed back into the hands of her label. They didn’t care about her. Not really. But Chloe did, as was shown in the way the redhead had reached over and gently tugged at Beca’s wrist - Beca laying down so her head rested in Chloe’s lap.

As Chloe’s fingertips delicately clawed through Beca’s hair, the superstar’s eyes drifted closed. _Safe_ \- that’s how she felt right now. Safe and loved.

“You could always tell Theo to ‘suck it’ and spend the day with me here anyway?” Chloe suggested jokingly in a soft voice, and Beca chuckled slightly before letting out a heavy sigh, sinking further into the bedcover over Chloe’s lap. Beca’s silence was clearly enough of an answer.

“But…obviously you can’t do that.”

The tone of Chloe’s voice was laced with as much disappointment as Beca felt. The stars had aligned for them once upon a time, but neither Beca or Chloe had been looking up to notice, so the opportunity had been missed. Now they had no choice but to go their separate ways again, and keep last night just a memory.

Beca slowly eased herself upright enough to draw her gaze up to Chloe’s. Both looked at each other with sad smiles on their faces.

“I’m so sorry.” Beca mumbled, and as Chloe shook her head gently to insist she had nothing to apologise about, the brunette tilted her face up to capture Chloe’s lips with her own.

Their soft kiss broke as both Beca and Chloe’s bodies quaked, Beca letting out a light sob while Chloe quietly cried with her. The redhead gently guided them both to the side to lay back down on the bed, and Beca wrapped her arms around Chloe’s neck while they resumed their soft tear-tainted kisses. Neither wanting to address the very real reality that Beca needed to leave the room imminently to be driven to the airport so she could begin the long journey to Australia. Leaving Chloe behind..


	18. Chapter 18

“Wasn’t expecting to see _you_ today.”

The greeting called out from the drivers seat in a teasing tone didn’t cheer Chloe up one bit. She settled in the passenger seat, pulling the seatbelt across her body. Her stomach felt knotted, her chest felt tight, her entire being felt miserable. She let out a sigh, looking out of the front window.

“Just drive.” Chloe mumbled in a glum tone.

It’d only been twenty minutes since Beca had left her apartment and she already felt empty. The farewell hadn’t been easy. They’d both agreed not to share one last kiss in the doorway as Beca stepped over to the elevator - it’d only leave them feeling more upset. Or so they thought. Now Chloe was feeling distraught that she hadn’t just stubbornly pulled Beca in for one last kiss. One for them both to remember each other by.

“So…” Darnell started as he began to drive them both to campus for their only class of the day, “…you don’t exactly have the face of a girl who finally got to sleep with the girl of her dreams last night.”

Chloe couldn’t look at him. So she turned to her right to look out of the passenger window. As they passed houses lit gently by the Californian sun, Chloe tried her hardest not to think about how perfect Beca would look in that very same sunlight. Last night had been messy and raw, but perfect and beautiful all at the same time. Unlike any one night stand Chloe had ever had before. And though she was yet to properly take the time to think about it - it was going to take someone _really_ special to ever fill the void that Beca had now left in Chloe’s heart.

“Did something bad happen?” Darnell sounded concerned - an unusual characteristic for him. Not that he was never concerned, but if he ever was, it was concealed behind flamboyance or sarcasm or a teasing tone.

Chloe felt a lump forming in her throat. Yeah something bad had happened. _She’d let Beca go_.

“Did she do something to hurt you?” Darnell was beginning to sound protective, and for a fleeting moment Chloe felt touched by his nosey nature. “Because if she did I _swear_ I’ll go public on Twitter about it and tag the shit out of her, you mark my words-”

“-Last night was amazing, Darnell.” Chloe suddenly said, interrupting him and turning to look at him with a small sad smile on her face, “She just had to leave quickly this morning, that’s all.”

“And she left before you could tell her you’re in love with her?”

He wasn’t _exactly_ correct. Chloe had told Beca on all too many occasions overnight that she loved her. And to her joy (and occasional sadness) Beca also took the opportunity to not only say that she loved Chloe in return, but to initiate the declaration of love at random intervals without Chloe ever prompting. It had been… _magical_.

“I told her I’m in love with her.”

“Ah babes.” Darnell replied in a sympathetic tone, watching the road ahead of him as he drove. Chloe watched out the front window too, not overly sure why he sounded as though she needed consoling over something she’d been so happy to say to Beca. “And she doesn’t love you back?”

“Oh _no_ , she definitely loves me back. She said so loads. We just…” Chloe paused to let out a heavy exhale of disappointment as she thought back on her and Beca’s goodbye earlier, “…had to go our separate ways because her label dragged her off to the airpor-”

The car shrieked to a stop as Darnell let out a large gasp and Chloe’s heart skipped a beat, completely stunned by the sudden action.

“Oh my God!” He burst, turning to face his upper body towards her, his dark brown eyes wide as they stared into Chloe’s bright blue eyes, “Is this a ‘Love Actually’ thing??” Chloe was confused, not only by the random movie reference, but also by the way Darnell beamed at her as if excited about something, “Am I _seriously_ basically in a ‘Love Actually’ movie here?”

“I have no idea what you’re tal-”

Darnell rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh of frustration, leaning back in the drivers seat before suddenly lurching closer to Chloe again.

“When you, like, need to tell Beca that you’re madly in love with her and always have been and-”

Chloe suddenly understood where the ‘Love Acyually’ reference had come from.

“-I’m not going to rock up on her doorstep with a bunch of massive cards and a Walkman, Darnell.”

Again the young man rolled his eyes, letting out a light groan of further frustration before looking at Chloe entirely seriously:

“Not _that_ bit of the movie! I mean going to the airport and stopping her from getting on her flight so you can tell her how much she means to you!”

Chloe’s mouth hung open, stunned once again. Was he serious? Did he seriously think that they could just rock up at Atlanta airport and by some miracle be able to stop Beca from boarding her _private jet_ before she took off at midday, leaving her forever?

“Girl, you need a Neeson.”

The statement snapped Chloe out of her brief daydream, enough for her to furrow her brow before Darnell began to explain:

“You need a Liam Neeson to get your sorry ass over to the airport in time to stop Beca Mitchell from leaving you forever. _Again_.”

The tiniest hint of a smile poked into the corner of Chloe’s mouth. Could they do it? Would they even make it in time? And even if they did…how could they guarantee Chloe would get anywhere near an area of the airport where a _private jet_ was parked??

“And you’re my Neeson?” she asked, a hint of amusement in her tone, and her heart skipped a beat while her soul lifted at the thought of perhaps seeing Beca one more time before the multi award winning recording artist left. Darnell turned to look out at the road once again, putting the car into ‘drive’ and taking a sharp U-turn to drive in the opposite direction, away from their college campus and instead towards the airport.

“I’m your Liam Neeson.” he confirmed in a determined voice, quoting Liam Neeson’s character in ‘Love Actually’ while he sped up, “Lets get the shit kicked out of you by love!”


	19. Chapter 19

“What the hell _is_ that, Beca?”

Beca heard Theo’s sigh before the inevitable question. She knew why he’d asked the rhetorical question. She knew she had a huge love bite on her neck from last night. But she didn’t smirk or grin like she thought she would. She felt too sad to do that. She heard the door of her private car slam shut behind her as she slowly approached her entourage towards the back of Atlanta airport. The whole team mostly distracted by answering emails or texts or on calls to the label. The only person to look at her was Theo.

Her heart felt heavy, her stomach knotted, her chest tight, and her attention somewhat distracted. Her thoughts purely on Chloe. The woman’s red hair and soft skin, gentle voice and bright blue eyes, delicate touch and sweet kisses. Beca missed Chloe now more than she ever had before. And it felt _exhausting_.

As she came to a slow stop before the group, she caught the sound of another sigh falling from Theo’s mouth, the man muttering under his breath:

“Great. I’m gonna have to get Trudy on the case. She’s not gonna be happy.”

“ _Seriously_?!” Beca snapped, her mood suddenly darkening further and a rare glimpse of her old angry self bubbled up, turning to face Theo angrily, “You’re _seriously_ more bothered about my makeup artist’s happiness more than my own??”

Her raised voice drew the attention of each member of her entourage, all looking up from their phones at her in surprise. But Beca didn’t care. She hadn’t cared for a long time. It wasn’t until now that she’d decided to say something about it.

“Beca, you know the rules.” Theo replied in a calm yet firm tone, bringing a hand out to hold out at Beca in an attempt to try to calm her down. He was the only person who ever seemed to take the brunt of Beca’s grumbles and grumpiness. It was his job. But he also cared about her as much as the label would allow him to. “You’ve gotta keep your appearance as presentable as possible at all times. It-”

“-I _asked_ her to do this.” Beca tried to explain, but to her irritation, she watched Theo roll his eyes before turning on the spot and motioning for the entourage to head over to the awaiting private jet nearby. As they slowly walked away, Beca stormed forward, reluctantly walking alongside Theo but still wanting to make her point, “I _love_ her, Theo! I’m _in_ lovewith her. So I don’t _care_ about the rules!”

Heading gradually up the steps of the jet behind ‘her’ team, Beca felt as though she was yet again fighting a losing battle. She’d tried to explain to the man on all too many occasions that there were too many rules she had to follow. Too many restrictions. And time and time again her words had fallen on deaf ears. But not any more.

“I’m fucking _drowning_ here!!” she burst in a shrill tone, trying to sound as strong as possible, but to her frustration, as she reached the top of the steps and grabbed Theo’s arm in the doorway to the jet, her voice quaked, “I’ve been drowning for months and last night for the first time in a very long time I actually felt _safe_!” She heard Theo let out a heavy sigh, turning his body on the spot to face her while she continued, “And my heart’s been ripped out by you guys because you dragged me away from Chloe after _promising_ me I could have until tonight with her.” Tears sprung into her eyes when she thought about how unfair her life was. How out of her control it was. “I _needed_ more time with her.”

Her chest rose and fell as her plea came out in a hurt tone, quieter than the rest of her explaination. And for a moment she wondered if she’d finally gotten through to the one man who best relayed her opinions to the label she was chained to. But sadly, Theo let out yet another sigh.

“Beca I don’t plan your schedule.” he replied in a calm voice, one that irritated Beca. Because she wanted to fight. She wanted to fight for her life. _Literally_! “You know I’m only the messenger.”

Beca’s eyes briefly swept down to her feet, trying to come up with another explaination that might just convey how she was feeling but a little more concisely? And because she looked down, she missed the way Theo’s eyebrows briefly furrowed as he looked past her.

“You’ve got three minutes.” He added in a slightly softer voice, and the change in his tone drew Beca’s attention back up to his face. Three minutes for what?

Beca saw the way Theo smiled kindly at her all of a sudden before looking over her shoulder, and the brunette followed his gaze by turning on the spot. Her heart leapt into her throat as she blinked firmly a couple of times, hardly able to believe what she was seeing.

 _Chloe_. Running quickly. From the main body of the airport. Across the runway towards the very jet Beca was about to step onto.

And a smile swept onto Beca’s face at the rate of the wave of relief that crashed across her body. Because there she was. Chloe Beale. Just when Beca needed her.

———

Theo grinned as he saw Beca practically launching herself down the steps as quickly as possible to get to Chloe who was approaching fast. _Three minutes and counting_. He’d get in trouble regardless, as they were already running twenty minutes behind schedule. So another three minutes wouldn’t hurt.


	20. Chapter 20

Chloe had _really_ overestimated how tight the security at Atlanta Airport would be. The occasional side door, walking with confidence (as Darnell had insisted she do) as if she knew exactly where she was going, and a helpful ‘all access’ visitors badge from Darnell’s Uncle when she thought she was about to fail her mission. That was all it had taken to bring her here, running as fast as her tired legs would carry her, the woman trying desperately hard to ignore the stitch in her side as she saw Beca up ahead, ascending the steps of her private jet behind her entourage.

If she had enough excess breath left in her lungs she would’ve called out to the brunette, hoping that fate would draw Beca’s attention to her. Fate, however, had a slightly different plan, and as Chloe continued to run she noticed Beca pull Theo to a stop at the top of the steps, seemingly yelling at him. Chloe couldn’t make out the exact words, but she could instantly tell by Beca’s tone that she was distressed. Which only fuelled the redhead’s energy further, determined to get to Beca to at least try to calm her down.

Finally Theo seemed to notice Chloe approaching, and Chloe wasn’t sure what he’d said to Beca, but a whole new wave of emotion crashed over the redhead’s body the second she saw the woman whip around to look at her. The smile on Beca’s face was unlike anything Chloe had seen before, and it brought a smile to her own face as she got closer and closer to her.

A smile that suddenly dropped when she watched Beca (who was scrambling down the steps of the private jet to get to her) miss her footing and tumble down the final two steps, crumbling onto the runway. Chloe let out a yelp of horror, launching herself to her knees on the ground beside Beca, reaching out for her. But Beca didn’t look hurt. Just stunned. Relieved.

“What’re you doing here??” Beca asked as she and Chloe both rose to their feet. Chloe gasped for breath, having ran rather far as quickly as possible. Further and quicker than she ever had before. But now she’d stopped, she could use her breath for talking.

“I…I couldn’t let…you leave…the way you did.” she forced out the words between deep breaths, trying to catch her breathing up to a normal rate. It was getting there. “I can’t let you…you leave the way you…d-did.”

Her hands were already at Beca’s, holding them and squeezing them. Looking desperately into Beca’s eyes. Those deep blue eyes that were watery. That were looking back at her in awe.

Suddenly Chloe felt Beca tug her into a deep kiss, and her eyes squeezed closed, her body quaking from both physical exhaustion and the emotion finally showing itself in a physical form, tears slipping from her eyes. Her hands snaked around Beca’s waist while the brunette cupped her cheeks. And their lips pressed firmly against one another’s, the kiss blistering, as though it was the last one they’d ever share.

“Come to Australia with me?” Beca blubbed, their kiss breaking slightly so she could speak, and Chloe’s heart sank. She’d love more than anything to be able to go with Beca to _Australia_ of all places. But she had school.

“I _can’t_.” Chloe replied regrettably, her forehead resting against Beca’s, hating the sound of the sniff that the woman made - knowing she was the reason Beca was crying. “I’ve got a big assignment due in a couple of days.”

She watched with a heavy heart as Beca’s forehead slipped down from hers, the brunette hanging her head completely. But Chloe didn’t want her to lose hope. Perhaps there was a different way they could see each other again?

“When do you get back to LA?” she asked in a soft voice, trying to prevent herself from crying while she held Beca against her by the hips. She watched as Beca shook her head gently, looking up into her eyes with a shrug. The sight of the woman looking so lost and forlorn breaking Chloe’s heart.

“Thursday.” came a voice somewhere behind Beca, and Chloe looked past the brunette as Beca looked back over her shoulder. Theo stood at the top of the steps with a kind smile on his face, having heard their conversation so far. Thursday. That was only three days away. Not so bad.

“Thursday.” Beca replied, turning back to Chloe and the redhead smiled.

“I’ll be there.”

“…Be where?”

“In LA.” Chloe said confidently. She saw a small smile begin to spread on Beca’s face and her spirit lifted. “Ready to meet you when you get back.”

She hadn’t thought about the logistics of getting to LA. Nor had she thought about how she might convince her professors to give her some time away from class at such short notice. But Chloe didn’t care. All she cared about right now was Beca. Beca who now looked like she was close to tears for a whole different reason than being emotionally and physically exhausted.

“But your studies.” Beca began, obviously conflicted with wanting to be with Chloe while desperately not wanting to hold her back in any way, “I-I couldn’t expect you to sacrifice them. That’d just be so _selfish_ of me.”

“Beca Mitchell,” Chloe paused momentarily to look Beca deep in the eyes, wanting to relay as much honesty and seriousness as possible, because she knew exactly how Beca got when given compliments, “You are the least selfish person I know.” she saw Beca’s cheeks flush pink slightly, the woman’s eyes darting momentarily to the left and back again in some form of half-hearted eye roll, “I want to do this.” Chloe added in a soft yet firm tone, “Let me come down to LA to see you. Please?”

There was a momentary pause that felt like a lifetime as Chloe waited with baited breath for Beca’s response. She knew what the woman was like. Knew that Beca’s stubborn nature might mean that the brunette would _still_ put Chloe’s studies ahead of her. But a part of Chloe hoped that just this once, Beca _would_ be selfish.

“Beca we need to go.”

Theo’s voice was not the one Chloe had expected to hear. Nor was the sound of Darnell’s footsteps as her friend ran from the main airport towards them, slowing as he neared. To her relief, she saw a smile slowly grow on Beca’s face once again.

“Thursday?”

“Thursday.” Chloe confirmed with a nod. She saw the way Beca seemed to take a deep breath, exhaling in relief.

“You’re sure?”

“It’s only in three days time, babe.” Chloe added, a smile gracing her face again when she realised that three days didn’t seem very long at all. Not when she’d waited for what had felt like forever already. She’d have everything figured out by then. Perhaps she might even persuade her professors to let her spend the rest of the sememster in LA? She was pretty persuasive. And fortunately also top of the class.

“Just kiss her already!!” Darnell cried out, having missed the kisses that Chloe and Beca had shared earlier. Chloe’s face screwed up, embarrassed by her friend who was beaming at them both from behind her. But Beca just looked amused.

“Friend of yours?”

“Yeah he…” Chloe paused, glancing over her shoulder at Darnell who suddenly put his thumbs up for added encouragement. She couldn’t help the light chuckle that fell from her mouth as she turned back to Beca, “…he’s my Neeson.”

Beca’s brow furrowed but Chloe shook her head, noticing how restless Beca’s entourage was getting in the nearby jet. Theo looked close to exploding he seemed so on edge, looking down at his watch far too frequently.

“You’ve gotta go.” Chloe said reluctantly, reaching for Beca’s hands and squeezing them tight, “Three days. Then I’m all yours again.”

She watched in delight as a goofy grin sprung onto Beca’s face, the brunette waiting a moment before surging forward to kiss Chloe firmly on the lips once more. Darnell cheered loudly, having let out a slight scream of joy the second Chloe was kissed by Beca. And it had the two women parting quickly to let out their respective chuckles.

“I’ll see you Thursday.” Beca said with a nod, and felt a knot in her stomach as she reluctantly released Chloe’s hands to turn back to the steps of the jet. Each step she took felt like a blow to her abdomen. Her heart felt as though it were stretching, part of it attached to the very woman she was leaving again. But the knowledge she only had to wait three days until she could see Chloe again gave Beca strength to carry on.

“Feeling better boss?” Theo asked, having spied the first genuine smile Beca’d had on her face in two years.

Beca paused at the top of the steps. For the most part she was. But there was one last thing she needed to do. So with a muttered “Fuck it”, she spun suddenly on the spot, and tore down the steps of the private jet again.

And, as before, she missed her footing…

Chloe let out a yelp as she felt Beca’s light petite body topple into hers from a fair height, both women falling to the ground. Neither winced or groaned in pain. Instead, Chloe had the great pleasure of hearing Beca laugh heartily. Laugh harder than she’d heard her laugh in a very very long time. And she looked up with a grin at Beca who was laid on top of her where they’d both landed.

“I just wanted to tell you I love you.” Beca said in a joyful tone, beaming at Chloe as Chloe beamed back. There was a twinkle in Beca’s eyes that hadn’t been present in a few years. And a huge shallow bloodied scrape on her chin where she must’ve come into contact with the surface of the runway during her fall. But she didn’t seem to mind. Her makeup artist was going to have to come up with some miracle to hide her massive love bite, might as well add to the workload with a massive grazed chin too..

“I love you too.” Chloe replied with a smile, sitting herself up just enough to share one last deep kiss with Beca, “Now get on that jet before the label drops you!”

Beca stood upright with a chuckle, dusting herself down slightly before offering to help Chloe to her feet. They shared another kiss, Chloe’s hands cupping Beca’s face as their lips pressed gently against each other.

“ _See you Thursday, babe._ ” Chloe mumbled sweetly, and Beca took a step back with a grin:

“See you Thursday.” she replied, then hurried up the steps of the private jet. Leaving Chloe stood at the bottom, joined by an overjoyed Darnell.


End file.
